Alison Pelegrin
{{primary sources|date=May 2024}}
{{short description|American poet and writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Alison Pelegrin
| birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| occupation = {{Cslist|Poet|writer|lecturer}}
| alma_mater = University of Arkansas
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
- Our Lady of Bewilderment
- Waterlines
- Hurricane Party
- Big Muddy River of Stars
- The Zydeco Tablets
}}
| awards = Akron Poetry Prize
| website = {{URL|alisonpelegrin.com/}}
| image = Alison Pelegrin 1018780.jpg
}}
Alison Pelegrin is an American poet, writer, and English lecturer. She is the author of several poetry collections, including Our Lady of Bewilderment (LSU 2022), Waterlines (LSU 2016), Hurricane Party (Akron 2011), and Big Muddy River of Stars (2007), which won the Akron Poetry Prize. In 2023, she was appointed the Poet Laureate of Louisiana, serving through 2025.
Biography
Alison Pelegrin was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.{{cite news |last1=Brooks |first1=Mary-Jo |title=When a hurricane turns a familiar place into 'familiar debris' |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/poetry/hurricane-turns-familiar-place-familiar-debris |access-date=26 May 2024 |work=PBS NewsHour |date=10 October 2016 |language=en-us}} She earned her Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Arkansas.{{Cite web |title=Alison Pelegrin |url=https://alisonpelegrin.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Alison Pelegrin |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523164659/https://alisonpelegrin.com/ |url-status=live }}
Pelegrin has taught English at Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) for more than two decades. In 2023, she was appointed the Poet Laureate of Louisiana, serving through 2025.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Alison Pelegrin |url=https://poets.org/poet/alison-pelegrin |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Academy of American Poets |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523164659/https://poets.org/poet/alison-pelegrin |url-status=live }} As of 2024, she is SLU's writer-in-residence.{{cite news |last1=Krieger |first1=Kadee |title=State's new poet laureate is Covington writer |url=https://www.nola.com/news/communities/st_tammany/states-new-poet-laureate-is-covington-writer/article_1e430cc8-412a-11ee-b746-73b8b6da95e0.html |access-date=26 May 2024 |work=NOLA.com |date=29 August 2023 |language=en}} Her work has appeared in notable literary journals such as Poetry, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, and The Bennington Review. Several of her poems are available as free printable broadsides at Broadsided Press.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-05-23 |title=Alison Pelegrin |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alison-pelegrin |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523164659/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alison-pelegrin |url-status=live }}
Pelegrin is married to Bryan Davidson and has two adult children. She and her husband live in Covington.
Awards and honors
Pelegrin has received multiple notable fellowships and grants, including a fellowship from the Louisiana Division of the Arts,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2016-09-07 |title=SLU instructor Alison Pelegrin publishes her fourth book of poetry |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/livingston_tangipahoa/slu-instructor-alison-pelegrin-publishes-her-fourth-book-of-poetry/article_80b40c2e-706f-11e6-a3ae-db66d5989644.html |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=The Advocate |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526001623/https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/livingston_tangipahoa/slu-instructor-alison-pelegrin-publishes-her-fourth-book-of-poetry/article_80b40c2e-706f-11e6-a3ae-db66d5989644.html |url-status=live }} a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (2007),{{Cite web |title=Alison Pelegrin |url=https://www.arts.gov/impact/literary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/alison-pelegrin |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=National Endowment for the Arts |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526001624/https://www.arts.gov/impact/literary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/alison-pelegrin |url-status=live }} and an ATLAS Grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents.{{cite news |last1=Brooks |first1=Jesse |title=Covington native named as Louisiana’s next Poet Laureate |url=https://www.fox8live.com/2023/08/03/covington-native-named-louisianas-next-poet-laureate/ |access-date=26 May 2024 |work=Fox 8 Live |date=4 August 2023 |language=en}}
Publications
- Voodoo Lips (Poems and Plays, 2002) - Chapbook
- The Zydeco Tablets (Word Press, 2002)
- Big Muddy River of Stars (University of Akron Press, 2007)
- Hurricane Party (University of Akron Press, 2011)
- Waterlines (Louisiana State University Press, 2016)
- Our Lady of Bewilderment (Louisiana State University Press, 2022){{cite journal |last1=Zachary |first1=Jordan |title=Razors, Rage and Humor in “Our Lady of Bewilderment” |journal=Southern Review of Books |date=28 March 2022 |url=https://southernreviewofbooks.com/2022/03/28/our-lady-of-bewilderment-alison-pelegrin-reviews/ |access-date=26 May 2024 |language=en}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Writers from Louisiana
Category:Poets laureate of Louisiana
Category:University of Arkansas alumni