Betsy Sholl
{{Short description|American poet}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Betsy Sholl
| image =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1945}}
| birth_place =
| nationality = American
| education = {{Plainlist|* Bucknell University
| genre = Poetry
| notableworks = {{Plainlist|* The Red Line
- Don't Explain
- Otherwise Unseeable}}
| awards = {{Plainlist|* AWP Award for Poetry
- Poet Laureate of Maine}}
| website = {{URL|betsysholl.com}}
}}
Elizabeth "Betsy" Sholl (born 1945) is an American poet who was poet laureate of Maine from 2006 to 2011 and has authored nine collections of poetry. Sholl has received several poetry awards, including the 1991 AWP Award, and the 2015 Maine Literary Award, as well as receiving fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maine Arts Commission.
Sholl's poetry has been published in anthologies and in literary journals including Orion Magazine, Field, TriQuarterly, The Kenyon Review, The Massachusetts Review, and Ploughshares.
Career
Sholl was one the founding members of Alice James Books, a non-profit publishing house at the University of Maine at Farmington, established in 1973 with the intent of widening women's access to publishing.{{cite web |title=About Betsy Sholl |url=https://poets.org/poet/betsy-sholl |website=Academy of American Poets |accessdate=5 January 2020}} Sholl published her first three poetry collections with Alice James Books: Changing Faces (1974), Appalachian Winter (1978) and Rooms Overhead (1986).{{cite news |title=Poet Betsy Sholl at Water Street Bookstore |url=https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20191001/poet-betsy-sholl-at-water-street-bookstore |accessdate=5 January 2020 |work=The Portsmouth Herald |date=October 1, 2019}}
In 1991, Sholl's chapbook Pick a Card won the Maine Chapbook Competition,{{cite web |title=Betsy Sholl |url=https://www.thecafereview.com/summer-2013-poets-betsy-sholl/ |website=The Cafe Review |accessdate=5 January 2020 |date=11 January 2017}} which was judged by Donald Hall.{{cite web |last1=Lorber |first1=Max |title=MWPA revives Maine Chapbook Series |url=http://usmfreepress.org/2019/09/29/mwpa-revives-maine-chapbook-series/ |website=The Free Press |accessdate=5 January 2020 |date=29 September 2019}} That same year, her poetry collection The Red Line won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs award for poetry.{{cite web |title=AWP: Award Series Winners |url=https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/awp_award_series_previous_winners |website=Association of Writers & Writing Programs |accessdate=4 January 2020}} The National Endowment for the Arts gave Sholl an artist fellowship in 1994.
In 1997, Sholl's collection Don't Explain was selected by Rita Dove to receive the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry.{{cite web |title=Brittingham & Pollak Prizes in Poetry |url=https://creativewriting.wisc.edu/bookprizes.html |website=Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison |accessdate=4 January 2020}} Dove, a previous holder of the position of US Poet Laureate,{{cite web |last1=Lichtenstein |first1=Jesse |title=How Poetry Came to Matter Again |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/09/chen-chen-aziza-barnes-layli-long-soldier/565781/ |website=The Atlantic |accessdate=5 January 2020 |date=12 August 2018}} described Sholl's poems as "what narrative can aspire to – namely, the grace and ease of the lyric rhapsody".
Sholl served as Maine's third poet laureate from 2006 to 2011.{{cite AV media |last1=Kestenbaum |first1=Stuart |title=Poems from Here: A rabbi, a minister, and a priest walk into a bar— |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/post/rabbi-minister-and-priest-walk-bar |website=Maine Public |type =radio broadcast|accessdate=4 January 2020 |date=August 9, 2019}} This is an honorary five-year position, with the laureate chosen in a process overseen by the Maine Arts Commission and appointed by the Governor of Maine, then John Baldacci.{{cite news |last1=Anstead |first1=Alicia |title=USM professor nominated for poet laureate |url=https://archive.bangordailynews.com/2006/03/01/usm-professor-nominated-for-poet-laureate/ |accessdate=4 January 2020 |work=Bangor Daily News |date=March 1, 2006}}
Sholl's collection Otherwise Unseeable won two prizes, the 2014 Four Lakes Prize in Poetry,{{cite web |last1=Lowe Connors |first1=Ginny |title=Otherwise Unseeable (Four Lakes Prize in Poetry) |url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/otherwise-unseeable-four-lakes-prize-poetry |website=New York Journal of Books |accessdate=4 January 2020 |date=}} and the 2015 Maine Literary Award for Poetry.{{cite web |last1=Han |first1=Cindy |title=Poetry: For National Poetry Month, Notable Maine Poets Discuss Their Work and The Role of Poetry |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/post/poetry-national-poetry-month-notable-maine-poets-discuss-their-work-and-role-poetry |website=Maine Public |accessdate=5 January 2020 |date=April 19, 2019}}
Sholl taught at the University of Southern Maine for over two decades.{{cite web |title=Betsy Sholl |url=https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/betsy-sholl/ |website=Vermont College of Fine Arts |accessdate=5 January 2020}} She teaches in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts,{{cite magazine |last1=Hauser |first1=Scott |magazine=Rochester Review |title=The 'Maine' Poet |url=https://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V68N4/gazetteRVP.html |publisher=University of Rochester |accessdate=5 January 2020 |date=2006 |volume=68 |number=4}} and she has been a visiting poet at the University of Pittsburgh{{cite web|url=http://www.bucknell.edu/x3730.xml|title=Poet-in-Residence|website=www.bucknell.edu}} and at Bucknell University, and has twice received an Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the Maine Arts Commission.{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Lynn |title=Betsy Sholl leads poetry workshop |url=https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/betsy-sholl-leads-poetry-workshop/39344 |accessdate=5 January 2020 |work=Boothbay Register |date=August 25, 2014 }}
Regarding poetry, Sholl has said that its main purpose "is to refresh or renew the language" and that "it renews the presence and aliveness of language".{{cite news |last1=Fleming |first1=Dierdre |title=Allusions of grandeur |url=http://www.pressherald.com/archive/allusions-of-grandeur_2009-04-17.html |work=Portland Press Herald |date=March 10, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715112748/http://www.pressherald.com/archive/allusions-of-grandeur_2009-04-17.html |archivedate=2011-07-15}}
Personal life and education
Born in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Sholl grew up in Bricktown, New Jersey.[https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/betsy_sholl Betsy Sholl], Poets & Writers, updated April 28, 2014. Accessed July 22, 2020. "Born in: Lakewood; Raised in: Brick Town, NJ" In 1967, she gained a BA in English Literature from Bucknell University, in 1969 an MA from the University of Rochester, and in 1989 a MFA in writing from Vermont College. She moved to Maine in 1983 after stints in Boston and Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and now lives in Portland, Maine with her husband Doug.{{cite book |chapter=Betsy Sholl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUkQxWDhriQC&pg=PT945|via=Google Books |title=Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |editor1-first=Sandra L. |editor1-last=Ballard |editor2-first=Patricia L. |editor2-last=Hudson |date=2013 |pages=554–564 |isbn=9780813143583}}
Published works
= Full-length poetry collections =
- {{cite book |title=Changing Faces |date=1974 |publisher=Alice James Books |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=9780914086055 |oclc=1217580 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/changingfaces00shol }}
- {{cite book |title=Appalachian winter |date=1978 |publisher=Alice James Poetry Cooperative |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=9780914086215 |oclc=464637445 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/appalachianwinte0000shol }}
- {{cite book |title=Rooms Overhead |date=1986 |publisher=Alice James Books |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=9780914086673 |oclc= 15001945}}
- {{cite book |title=The Red Line |date=1992 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |isbn=9780822954828 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/redline00shol }}
- {{cite book |title=Don't Explain |date=1997 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |isbn=9780299157203 |oclc=36676000}}
- {{cite book |title=Late Psalm |date=2004 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |isbn=9780299198930 |oclc=929635289}}
- {{cite book |title=Rough Cradle |date=2009 |publisher=Alice James Books |location=Farmington, Maine |isbn=9781882295739 |oclc=261175896}}
- {{cite book |title=Otherwise Unseeable |date=2014 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |isbn=9780299299330 |oclc=930854601}}
- {{cite book |title=House of Sparrows : New and selected poems |date=2019 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |isbn=9780299323042 |oclc=1053147930}}
= Chapbooks =
- {{cite book |title=Pick a Card |date=1991 |publisher=A Coyote/Bark Publication of the Maine Arts Commission |isbn=9780913341148 |oclc=25568426}}
- {{cite book |title=Coastal Bop |date=2001 |publisher=Oyster River Press |location=Durham, New Hampshire |isbn=9781882291809 |oclc=57252210}}
- {{cite book |title=Greatest Hits, 1974-2004 |date=2006 |publisher=Pudding House Publications |location=Columbus, Ohio |isbn=9781589983762 |oclc=71791296}}
= Contributions in anthologies =
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Daniels |editor1-first=Jim |title=Letters to America : contemporary American poetry on race |date=1995 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |location=Detroit, Michigan |isbn=9780814325421 |pages=162–166 |chapter=Betsy Sholl |oclc=779970337}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Gemin |editor1-first=Pamela |editor2-last=Sergi |editor2-first=Paula |editor1-link=Pamela Gemin |title=Boomer Girls : poems by women from the baby boom generation |date=1999 |publisher=University of Iowa Press |location=Iowa City |isbn=9780877456988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/boomergirlspoems0000unse/page/169 169] |chapter=Betsy Sholl, 'Sex Ed' |oclc=632556743 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/boomergirlspoems0000unse/page/169 }}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=McNair |editor1-first=Wesley |title=The Maine Poets : An Anthology of Verse |date=2006 |publisher=Down East Books |location=Camden, Maine |isbn=9780892727087 |oclc=53884604}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Wagoner |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Lehman |editor2-first=David |editor1-link=David Wagoner |editor2-link=David Lehman |title=The Best American Poetry, 2009 |date=2009 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9780743299763 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bestamericanpoet00davi_5/page/113 113-114] |chapter=Betsy Sholl, 'Gravity and Grace' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bestamericanpoet00davi_5/page/113 }}
- {{cite book |title=An Endless Skyway : poetry from the State Poets Laureate |date=2011 |publisher=Ice Cube Books |location=North Liberty, Iowa |isbn=9781888160529 |oclc=707245290}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Zaleski |editor1-first=Philip |editor1-link=Philip Zaleski |title=The Best Spiritual Writing 2012 |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=9781101552650 |page= |chapter=Betsy Sholl, 'Pears, Un stolen'}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Macari |editor1-first=Anne Marie |editor2-last=Salerno |editor2-first=Carey |title=Lit from Inside : 40 years of poetry from Alice James Books |date=2013 |publisher=Alice James Books |isbn=9781882295968 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/litfrominside40y0000unse }}{{cite web |title=Lit from Inside |url=https://www.npr.org/books/titles/168536870/lit-from-inside-40-years-of-poetry-from-alice-james-books |website=NPR |accessdate=5 January 2020}}
= Contributions in literary journals =
- {{cite magazine |title=We Keep Her in a Box |magazine=Ploughshares |date=1977 |issue=11 |url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-1977/we-keep-her-box |url-access=subscription}}
- {{cite magazine |title=The Red Line |magazine=Ploughshares |date=1990 |issue=51 |url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-1990/red-line |url-access=subscription}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Three Wishes |magazine=Ploughshares |date=1990 |issue=51 |url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-1990/three-wishes |url-access=subscription}}
- {{cite magazine |title=The Coat |magazine=The Massachusetts Review |date=1991 |volume=32 |issue=2}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Half the Music |magazine=The Massachusetts Review |date=1999 |volume=40 |issue=2}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Late Psalm |magazine=The Kenyon Review |date=2002 |volume=XXIV |issue=1 |url=https://kenyonreview.org/journal/winter-2002/selections/late-psalm/ }}
- {{cite magazine |title=Transport |magazine=TriQuarterly |date=2004 |issue=119 |url=https://www.triquarterly.org/issue-viewer#/212646#6bbeb899-3e49-412e-b6f4-9c44b3046270}}
- {{cite magazine|url=https://orionmagazine.org/poetry/endless-argument/|title=Endless Argument|magazine=Orion Magazine}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Philomela |magazine=Field |date=2017 |issue=97 |url=http://www2.oberlin.edu/ocpress/FIELD/97.html}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Shrines |magazine=Ploughshares |date=2010 |issue=113 |url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/winter-2010-11/shrines |url-access=subscription}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Blue Village |magazine=The Massachusetts Review |date=2012 |volume=53 |issue=1}}
- {{cite journal |title=Orion |journal=Beloit Poetry Journal |date=2013 |volume=64 |issue=1 |page=12 |url=https://www.bpj.org/contributors/sholl-betsy}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.betsysholl.com}}
- {{cite web |title=Betsy Sholl |url=http://www.fishousepoems.org/artist/sholl-betsy/ |website=From the Fishhouse - an audio archive of emerging poets |date=April 18, 2016}}
- {{cite AV media|url=https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2007%252F10%252F13.html |type=Audio |website=The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor |title="Sex Ed" by Betsy Sholl |date=October 13, 2007}}
{{Authority control}}
{{ME Poets Laureate|state=autocollapse}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sholl, Betsy}}
Category:Writers from Portland, Maine
Category:People from Brick Township, New Jersey
Category:People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey
Category:University of Rochester alumni
Category:Bucknell University alumni
Category:University of Southern Maine faculty
Category:Poets laureate of Maine
Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows
Category:Vermont College of Fine Arts alumni
Category:Poets from New Jersey
Category:Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty
Category:American women academics