CAROL MUSKE-DUKES is an OWL (Old Wise Lady or OWW, Old Wise Woman) now officially retired from USC, after over thirty years as a full professor with tenure and SOLO founder of the PhD program in Creative Writing/literature. Glad to be free!
Glad to be free to express myself beyond the restrictions of academia within the Corporate University - and also glad to be able to share my thoughts on the Demise of Creative Writing.
Besides my many years at USC -- (I've taught at Columbia Univ. MFA program, Univ. of Iowa Writers Workshop, UC Irvine MFA Program, Univ. of Virginia, George Washington Univ. (Jenny McKean Moore Lecturer) etc.
I have published 16 books, poems, novels and essay collections - as well as co-edited anthologies. Most recent book of poems, BLUE ROSE, (Penguin) was a long list Pulitzer prize finalist in 2019. Other awards, etc. Guggenheim, NEA, Ingram Merrill, Castagnola award, 7 Pushcarts , Barnes & Noble Writer for Writers award, etc. National Book Award finalist, LATimes Book Prize finalist, Witter Bynner Library of Congress award. California Poet Laureate (2008-2011) + NYTimes Most Notable Books. Published & anthologized widely + also: I write & review for the NYTimes Book Review, LATimes, (former Poetry columnist, LA Times),. NY Times Op Ed, + Magazine, The New Yorker, Huffington Post, etc. Rea Visiting Distinguished Writer, Univ. of Virginia , + Harmon Writer Residency, Baruch College, NY.
But I remain a writer first - teachers of CW aren't always loyal to writing itself - says the OWL.
The poet Shelley said that poets are the “unacknowledged legislators of the world”. I once made fun of this in my essay collection “Married to the Icepick Killer” - but now I think I get what he was saying in a new way. I am trying to make sense of the world, with a poet's eye, in the essays I'm including as SUBSTACK “news”.
“News that stays news” to quote another poet - that's what I'm about here. I will be "whistle-blowing" on relevant topics as well.
SO THIS IS : LETTER FROM AN OWL POET
Stay tuned.
Here is the link to my latest (9th) book of poems, BLUE ROSE, fom Penguin, a 2019 long-list Pulitzer Prize finalist. https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Penguin-Poets-Carol-Muske-Dukes/dp/0143131257/
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