Nicky Beer

{{Infobox person

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1976}}

| occupation = Poet

| employer = University of Colorado Denver

| alma_mater = {{ublist|Yale University|University of Houston|University of Missouri}}

| notable_works = Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes

| awards = {{ublist|Guggenheim Fellowship (2023)|Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry (2023)}}

}}

Nicole C. Beer (born 1976) is an American poet. A 2017 MacDowell Fellow and 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, she is Associate Professor of English at University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) Department of English. One of her poetry books, Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes, won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry.

Biography

Nicole C. Beer{{Cite news |date=1993-10-03 |title=Long Island Scholars Merit Semifinalists |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/725159593/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=Newsday |pages=277}} was born in 1976{{Cite press release |title=2008 Ruth Lilly Fellowship Winners Announced |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/press/71589/2008-ruth-lilly-fellowship-winners-announced |language=en |access-date=2024-06-03}} to William R. Beer, a sociologist who worked as a professor at Brooklyn College, and Rose ({{nee}} Salisbury).{{Cite news |date=1991-07-25 |title=William R. Beer, Professor, 48 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/25/obituaries/william-r-beer-professor-48.html |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=New York Times |pages=B10}} She was raised in Northport, New York and went to Northport High School.

She later obtained her BA in Sociology (1998) from Yale University, MFA in Creative Writing and Literature (2003) from the University of Houston, and her PhD in English (2007) from the University of Missouri.{{Cite web |title=Nicky Beer |url=https://clas.ucdenver.edu/english/node/478/attachment |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=University of Colorado Denver}} After spending a year as a visiting poet at Murray State University (2008-2009), she moved to the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) Department of English as a senior instructor, before being promoted to assistant professor in 2011 and associate professor in 2016.

She was originally inspired to go into poetry after seeing the William Blake poem "The Tyger" on PBS, and she had been writing poems by the time she was in fourth grade.{{Cite interview |last=Beer |first=Nicky |interviewer=Cynthia Pasquale |title=Five questions for Nicky Beer |url=https://connections.cu.edu/spotlights/five-questions-nicky-beer |access-date=2024-06-04 |work=CU Connections |date=2017-09-21 |language=en}} She became a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow in Poetry.{{Cite web |title=Nicky Beer |url=https://www.arts.gov/impact/literary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/nicky-beer |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=www.arts.gov |language=en}} In 2009, she joined CU Denver's literary journal Copper Nickel as their poetry co-editor, and after its founder Jake Adam York's death in 2012, she became one of his two literary executors in 2013. Her first two poetry books, The Diminishing House (2010) and The Octopus Game (2015), won the Colorado Book Award for Poetry.{{Cite news |last=Casey |first=Chris |date=2016-07-05 |title=Poet Beer explores mysteries of octopi, wins second Colo. Book Award |url=https://news.ucdenver.edu/poet-beer-explores-mysteries-octopi-wins-second-colo-book-award/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=CU Denver News |language=en-US}} In 2023, she won the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry for her next book Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes,{{Cite news |date=2023-06-20 |title=2 Canadians win Lambda Literary Awards for best LGBTQ+ writing |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/2-canadians-win-lambda-literary-awards-for-best-lgbtq-writing-1.6882524 |work=CBC Books |access-date=2024-06-03 }} which she had worked on during her 2017 stint at the MacDowell Colony.{{Cite web |title=Nicky Beer |url=https://www.macdowell.org/artists/nicky-beer |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=MacDowell |language=en}} In 2023, she was appointed a Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry.{{Cite web |title=Nicky Beer |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/nicky-beer/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation}}

At CU Denver, she teaches classes in creative writing, poetry, and literary studies (particularly in intersection with women's studies and LGBT studies).{{Cite web |title=Nicky Beer |url=https://clas.ucdenver.edu/english/nicky-beer |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=English |language=en}} She also works as a juror in poetry contests, including outside of Colorado and for the Academy of American Poets Prize and The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Beer is bisexual and queer.{{Cite web |title=Nicky Beer |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/nicky-beer |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}

Publications

=Books=

The Diminishing House (2010)
The Octopus Game (2015){{Cite news |title=The Octopus Game by Nicky Beer |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780887485930 |access-date=2024-06-04}}
Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes (2022){{Cite news |date=2022-11-15 |title=Review of Nicky Beer's "Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes" by Ryan James |url=https://anotherchicagomagazine.net/2022/11/15/review-of-nicky-beers-real-phonies-and-genuine-fakes-by-ryan-james/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |work=Another Chicago Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Rhodes |first=Benjamin Anthony |title=Fake Selves and Real Grief: On Nicky Beer's "Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes" |url=https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/writing/nicky-beer-real-phonies-genuine-fakes-review |access-date=2024-06-04 |work=Cleveland Review of Books |language=en-US}}