English Professor Gillian Conoley Wins Shelley Award for Poetry

SSU NewsCenter


Sonoma State University English Professor and Poet-in-Residence Gillian Conoley has been awarded the prestigious Shelley Memorial Award for her body of work as an American poet. The award has been given to one poet annually since 1929 by a jury of three poets selected by the Poetry Society of America.




"The list of poets who have won this award are the ones that would show up on a syllabus for an American poetry class in the 20th and 21st century," says Thaine Stearns, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. "With this award, Gillian becomes part of the canon of American poets in a way that is recognizable."

Past winners include, among many others, e.e. cummings, U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Sonoma State University alum D.A. Powell. Some winners, like Robert Creeley, Marianne Moore and Gwendolyn Brooks, in particular, have had tremendous influence on Conoley as a poet. "Those were major figures for me as a young writer," she says.

"It was completely unexpected," says Conoley. "To be recognized by your own peers, that's very meaningful for any artist."

Winners are selected with reference to his or her genius and need. The award text, written by poets Kazim Ali and Katie Peterson, praises Conoley's "shockingly varied body of work comprising narrative, lyric and fragmented forms." The citation continues, "In the work, sound deepens our acquaintance with landscape, and enriches our encounter with human life."

Conoley's poetry can be defined as quintessentially American, says the citation. "Many years ago the Poetry Society of American held a symposium entitled, 'What's American About American Poetry?' ... On the closing day, the panelists could only conclude that absolute hybridity of approaches, the ever-shifting shape of the beat itself, was what made American poetry 'American.' In this, Gillian Conoley is a uniquely American writer, one whose work presents infinite possibilities ...

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