Cole Swensen
{{Short description|American poet}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{infobox writer
|name=Cole Swensen
|image=Cole Swensen à la Kunsthalle Mulhouse.jpg
|caption=Swensen in La Kunsthalle Mulhouse
|birth_date={{birth year and age|1955}}
|birth_place=Kentfield, California, U.S.
|occupation={{flatlist|
- Poet
- translator
- editor
- copywriter
- professor
}}
|education=San Francisco State University (BA, MA)
University of California, Santa Cruz (PhD)
}}
Cole Swensen (born 1955, in Kentfield, California) is an American poet, translator, editor, copywriter, and professor. Swensen was awarded a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship and is the author of more than ten poetry collections and as many translations of works from the French. She received her B.A. and M.A. from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Denver. She taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa until 2012 when she joined the faculty of Brown University's Literary Arts Program.
Her work is considered Postmodern and post-Language school, though she maintains close ties with many of the original authors from that group (such as Lyn Hejinian, Carla Harryman, Barrett Watten, Charles Bernstein,) as well as poets from all over the US and Europe. Her work is hybrid in nature, sometimes called lyric-Language poetry emerging from a strong background in the poetic and visual art traditions of both the US and France and adding to them her own vision.
In the US, Cole Swensen's ninth collection of poetry, Goest (Alice James Books, 2004) was a finalist for the National Book Award.{{cite web| url = http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2004_cswensen.htm| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041024013424/http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2004_cswensen.htm| archive-date = 2004-10-24| title = The National Book Foundation}} Earlier works have been awarded a National Poetry Series selection, Sun & Moon's New American Writing Award, the Iowa Poetry Prize via University of Iowa Press, the San Francisco State Poetry Center Book Award, and two Pushcart Prizes.
Her translation of Jean Frémon's The Island of the Dead won the 2004 PEN USA Literary Award for Translation. She has also received grants from the Association Beaumarchais and the French Bureau du Livre.
Sidelights
In France, Swensen has participated in readings and collaborative translation projects with such organizations as the Royaumont Foundation at the beautiful L'abbaye de Royaumont, Columbia University’s Reed Hall, the Maison des écrivains et de la littérature {{cite web |url=http://www.maison-des-ecrivains.asso.fr/ |title=Home |website=maison-des-ecrivains.asso.fr}} in Paris, Double Change {{cite web |url=http://www.doublechange.com/ |title=Home |website=doublechange.com}}{{cite web |url=http://www.doublechange.com/blog/readings/index.html |title=Readings / Lectures |accessdate=2007-10-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005005021/http://www.doublechange.com/blog/readings/index.html |archivedate=2007-10-05 }} and Ivy Writers Paris.{{cite web |url=http://www.ivywritersparis.blogspot.com/ |title=Home |website=ivywritersparis.blogspot.com}} Her life-long commitment to translation is a testament to her belief in the international exchange of words and language, and in the importance of radical and traditional poetries for contemporary society.
She is member of the Academy of American Poets, and a contributing editor for the periodicals American Letters & Commentary and for Shiny, and for many years was the translation editor for the online contemporary poetry and poetics review How2.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/|title=HOW2|website=www.asu.edu|accessdate=28 December 2023}}
She divides her time between Paris and Providence, RI, where she is on the permanent faculty of Brown University's Literary Arts Program. She is also the founder and editor of La Presse, a small press dedicated to the translation and publication in English of contemporary French poetry (such as by Claude Royet-Journoud or Marie Borel).
Publications
=Books=
- And And And, (Shearsman Books, 2023)
- Art in Time, (Nightboat Books, 2021)
- On Walking On, (Nightboat Books, 2017)
- Landscapes on a Train, (Nightboat Books, 2015)
- Gravesend, (University of California Press, 2012)—Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry, 2012.
- Noise That Stays Noise, (University of Michigan Press, 2011)
- Ours: poems on the gardens of Andre Le Notre, (University of California Press, 2008){{cite web |url=http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/11018.html |title=Ours |website=www.ucpress.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012024651/http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/11018.html |archive-date=2007-10-12}} —excerpt at POOL [http://poolpoetry.com/Swenson%202004.htm Swenson 2004] poolpoetry.com {{dead link|date=December 2023}}
- The Glass Age, (Alice James Books, 2007){{cite web |url=http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/ |title=Home |website=alicejamesbooks.org}}Reviewed at rhubarb is susan http://rhubarbissusan.blogspot.com/2007/07/defeasible-pause.html & http://rhubarbissusan.blogspot.com/2007/03/cole-swensens-glass-age.html
- The Book of a Hundred Hands, (University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 2005){{Cite web|url=http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2005-fall/swebooof.html|title=| University of Iowa Press|accessdate=28 December 2023}}
- NEF, a translation by Rémi Bouthonnier of Noon (Les Petits Matins, Paris, 2005)
- Goest, (Alice James Books, 2004){{Cite web |url=http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2004_cswensen.html |title=Cole Swensen, 2004 National Book Award Finalist: Poetry, National Book Foundation |access-date=2010-04-23 |archive-date=2013-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210233709/http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2004_cswensen.html |url-status=dead }}—Finalist for the National Book Award, 2004, and One of 12 books honored as the "Best Poetry of 2004" by Library Journal.Reviewed at smartish pace http://www.smartishpace.com/home/reviews_poch_swensen.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050316191054/http://www.smartishpace.com/home/reviews_poch_swensen.html |date=2005-03-16 }}
- Such Rich Hour, (University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 2001){{Cite web|url=http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/pre-2002/swesucric.html|title=| University of Iowa Press|accessdate=28 December 2023}}
- Oh, (Apogee Press, Berkeley, CA, 2000)—Finalist for the National Poetry Series, 1998.{{Cite web |url=http://www.apogeepress.com/books_oh.html |title=Apogee Press |access-date=2007-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218200535/http://www.apogeepress.com/books_oh.html |archive-date=2007-12-18 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.apogeepress.com/ |title=Home |website=apogeepress.com}}
- And Hand chapbook, (a+bend Press series, San Francisco, CA, 2000){{Cite web |url=http://www.durationpress.com/abend/index.html |title=A+bend press |access-date=2007-10-05 |archive-date=2007-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005113333/http://www.durationpress.com/abend/index.html |url-status=dead }}
- Try, (University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa, 1999)—Winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, 1998, and Winner of the San Francisco State Poetry Center Book Award, 2000.{{Cite web|url=http://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/pre-2002/swetry.html|title = | University of Iowa Press}}
- Noon, (Sun & Moon Press, Los Angeles, CA., 1997)—Winner of the New American Writing Award. Re-published with Green Integer {{cite web |url=http://www.greeninteger.com/book.cfm?-Cole-Swensen-Noon-&BookID=123 |title=Cole Swensen | Noon | Green Integer Books |accessdate=2007-10-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012213409/http://greeninteger.com/book.cfm?-Cole-Swensen-Noon-&BookID=123 |archivedate=2007-10-12 }}
- Numen, (Burning Deck Press, Providence, RI, 1995)—Named an “International Book of the Year,” Times Literary Supplement, and Finalist for the PEN West Award in Poetry, 1996. It also appeared in French translation as Numen, (Fondation Royaumont, 1994) {{Cite web|url=http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/704|title = About Cole Swensen | Academy of American Poets}}
- Parc, a translation by Pierre Alferi of Park (Format Américan France, 1995){{Cite web|url=http://epc.buffalo.edu/orgs/bureau/coll-fa_a.html|title = Electronic Poetry Center}}
- Park, (Floating Island Press, Inverness, CA. 1991)
- New Math, (William Morrow & Co., New York, 1988)—Winner of the National Poetry Series, 1987
- It's Alive She Says, (Floating Island Press, CA, 1984)
- It's Like You Never Left, (Isis Press, CA, 1983)
=Swensen's translations from the French=
- La Vraie nature des ombres by Jean Frémon : The Real Life of Shadows, The Post Apollo Press, 2009
- Physis by Nicolas Pesquès (Parlor Press / Free Verse Editions, 2007){{cite web |url=http://www.parlorpress.com/freeverse/ |title=Parlor Press: Free Verse Editions |website=www.parlorpress.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015185615/http://www.parlorpress.com/freeverse/ |archive-date=2004-10-15}}
- Futur, ancien, fugitif by Olivier Cadiot, as Future, Former, Fugitive (Roof Books, 2004) [https://web.archive.org/web/20060513152742/http://www.roofbooks.com/Author/index.cfm?fa=ShowAuthor&Person_ID=67 Roof Books]
- Kub or by Pierre Alferi, asOxo (Burning Deck, 2004){{Cite web |url=http://www.durationpress.com/authors/alferi/home.html |title=Duration press |access-date=2007-10-05 |archive-date=2008-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101005050/http://www.durationpress.com/authors/alferi/home.html |url-status=dead }}
- L'Ile des Morts by Jean Frémon, as: Island of the Dead (Green Integer, 2002)--awarded the 2004 PEN USA Award for Literary Translation {{cite web |url=http://penusa.org/go/awards/winners/2004-literary-awards-winners/ |title=PEN Center USA | 2004 Literary Awards Winners |accessdate=2007-10-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621143211/http://penusa.org/go/awards/winners/2004-literary-awards-winners/ |archivedate=2007-06-21 }}
- Bayart by Pascalle Monnier (Black Square Editions, 2001)
- Natural Gaits by Pierre Alferi (Sun & Moon, 1995)
- Past Travels by Olivier Cadiot (1994)
- Interrmittances II by Jean Tortel (1994)
=Other publications=
- Swensen has written critical articles on poets such as Susan Howe, Anne-Marie Albiach or Claude Royet-Journoud, as well as reviews of poetry for such periodicals and books as:
- “The Boston Review”
- “The Bloomsbury Review”
- anthologies Moving Borders: Three Decades of Innovative Writing By Women edited by Mary Margaret Sloan, (Talisman Editions, New Jersey, 1998) and
- Civil Disobediences (Coffee House Press, 2004)
- American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, (W.W. Norton & Company, 2008). Swensen co-edited (with David St. John) this anthology that includes 70 poets seen as creating cross-genre works, mixing traditional or modernist poetry techniques with experimental and postmodern writings
=Contributions to periodicals=
- Contributor to periodicals in English: including Chicago Review, American Poetry Review, Boston Book Review, Common Knowledge, Conjunctions, Upstairs at Duroc, Grand Street, New American Writing, and ZYZZYVA.{{cite web |url=http://www.zyzzyva.org/ |title=Home |website=zyzzyva.org}} She has also translated individual poems for print and online periodicals such as Verse, The Germ, 1913. Online at the extensive Chicago Modern Poetry website,{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/ |title=Home |website=chicagopostmodernpoetry.com}} one can discover other poets Swensen has translated including Caroline Dubois {{cite web |url=http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/caroldubois.html |title=Caroldubois.HTML |accessdate=2010-04-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708144221/http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/caroldubois.html |archivedate=2011-07-08 }} or Sabine Macher,{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/sabmacher.html |title=Sabmacher.HTML |accessdate=2010-04-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708144225/http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/sabmacher.html |archivedate=2011-07-08 }} and Oulipo poet Michel Gringaud at the drunkenboat publication website {{cite web |url=http://www.drunkenboat.com/db8/oulipo/feature-oulipo/oulipo/texts/grangaud/calend_en.html |title=Calendar (extract) |website=www.drunkenboat.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022091819/http://www.drunkenboat.com/db8/oulipo/feature-oulipo/oulipo/texts/grangaud/calend_en.html |archive-date=2006-10-22}} or at Free Verse.{{Cite web|url=http://english.chass.ncsu.edu/freeverse/Archives/Spring_2003/poems/C_Swensen.html|title=Freeversethejournal|date=10 November 2021 }}
- Individual poems by Swensen have appeared in French translation: in the reviews “Action Poétique,” "Java," "Vacarme," "Nioque," "Action Poétique," and “Hors-Bords.”
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/704 Poet Profile: Academy of American Poets > Cole Swensen]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071109114338/http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/cswensen.htm Interview: ChicagoPostmodernPoetry > Poetic Profile: Cole Swensen]
- [http://www.thecontinentalreview.com/ Video Interview in The Continental Review] by Jennifer K Dick
- [http://www.octopusmagazine.com/issue09/barnadav.htm Octopus Magazine > Review by Hadara Bar-Nadav of The Glass Age > by Cole Swensen]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swensen, Cole}}
Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
Category:Brown University faculty
Category:San Francisco State University alumni
Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni
Category:Poets from California
Category:People from Kentfield, California
Category:Writers from Marin County, California