Ted Genoways#Controversy

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ted Genoways

| image =

| imagesize = 240px

| caption = Ted Genoways receiving the 2014 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism

| pseudonym =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|04|13}}

| birth_place = Lubbock, Texas

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Poet
journalist
editor

}}

| nationality = American

| period =

| genre =

| subject =

| movement =

| notableworks =

| spouse =

| partner =

| children =

| relatives =

| influences =

| influenced =

| signature =

| website = {{URL|http://www.tedgenoways.com/}}

}}

Ted Genoways (born April 13, 1972){{Cite web|url=http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/details.asp?aID=9648&|title=Career Advice Articles | Career Tips & Job Search Help}} is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer at Mother Jones and The New Republic, and an editor-at-large at Pacific Standard. His books include This Blessed Earth and The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food.

He has been hailed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune as a "marvelous poet"{{cite web|url=http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=11375461 |title=Print Page |publisher=StarTribune |date=2001-12-15 |accessdate=2014-04-08}} and by The Times Literary Supplement as a "tenacious scholar."Tursi, Renee. Review of Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, Volume 7, ed. Ted Genoways. TLS June 18, 2004 He is the author of two books of poems and the literary history Walt Whitman and the Civil War, which, the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote, "fills in a major gap in previous biographies of Whitman and rebuts the canard that Whitman was unaffected by the war and the run-up to it."{{cite book|url=http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520259065 |title=Walt Whitman and the Civil War - Ted Genoways - Hardcover - University of California Press |publisher=Ucpress.edu |date= |accessdate=2014-04-08}} His awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and inclusion in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Travel Writing. He was editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review from 2003 to 2012, during which time the magazine won six National Magazine Awards.

Biography

Genoways was born in Lubbock, Texas, in 1972, and grew up in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, where "[m]ost boys' fathers... were mechanics, welders, steelworkers many of them Vietnam vets, laid off from the mills and scraping by. But my dad was Dr. Hugh H. Genoways, curator of mammals at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History."{{cite web|last=Stableford |first=Dylan |url=http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Batman-Returns.html|title=Batman Returns |magazine=Outside Online |date=2009-02-19 |accessdate=2014-08-09}}{{cite web |last=Genoways |first=Ted |url=http://www.mediabistro.com/Ellies-2007-So-What-Do-You-Do-Ted-Genoways-Editor-Virginia-Quarterly-Review-a9648.html |title=Ellies 2007: So What Do You Do, Ted Genoways, Editor, Virginia Quarterly Review? |publisher=mediabistro.com |date=2007-04-24 |accessdate=2014-08-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810112446/http://www.mediabistro.com/Ellies-2007-So-What-Do-You-Do-Ted-Genoways-Editor-Virginia-Quarterly-Review-a9648.html |archivedate=2014-08-10 }} When Genoways' father was named director of the Nebraska State Museum, the family moved to Lincoln in 1986.{{cite book|last=Genoways |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Q8fAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA287|title=Museum Philosophy for the Twenty-First Century |publisher=Altamira Press |accessdate=2014-08-09|isbn=9780759114258 |date=2006-06-08 }} As a freshman at Lincoln East High School, Genoways and others started a school magazine, Muse, which, two years later, the Columbia School of Journalism named the best high school publication in the country.{{cite web |last=Cannon |first=Brevy |url=http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2006/06/vqr.html |title=VQR beats 'the Yankees' |publisher=InsideUVA |date=2007-04-24 |accessdate=2014-08-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150124180608/http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2006/06/vqr.html |archivedate=2015-01-24 }}

While completing a B.A. in English at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1994, he worked at Prairie Schooner and founded the Coyote, a general-interest pop culture magazine, which also received multiple awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.{{cite web|url=http://cspa.columbia.edu/recepient-lists/1993-awards-student-work-gold-circle-awards-collegiate-recipients |title=1993 - Awards For Student Work Gold Circle Awards - Collegiate Recipients |publisher=CSPA |accessdate=2014-08-09}} He worked at Texas Tech University Press while completing an M.A. in English from Texas Tech University. He worked at Callaloo and edited Meridian, which he founded, while completing his M.F.A. at the University of Virginia. He later worked at Coffee House Press and the Minnesota Historical Society Press, where he worked on Cheri Register's book Packinghouse Daughter, about the meatpackers strike in Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1959.{{citation|last=Philpott |first=Tom |url=https://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/10/chain-ted-genoways-spam-hormel |title=Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Hormel, Bacon, and Amputated Limbs |magazine=Mother Jones |date=2001-10-15 |accessdate=2014-10-18}}

Genoways' first book, a collection of poems entitled Bullroarer: A Sequence, was a narrative his grandfather "from his birth in a poor rural family to his work in the Omaha stockyards to his final years." Marilyn Hacker, who selected the book for the 2001 Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize, wrote in the book's introduction: "Perhaps it says something about the movement of American poetry that the stockyards and slaughterhouses choired in operatic open form by Carl Sandburg are rendered (a word that takes on another meaning in one poem) by Ted Genoways in a metered verse that spares the reader no detail. There is no romance to the blood and heat and animal terror communicated to workers (and readers) as it emanates from the killing floors of the Omaha meatpacking industry."{{cite book|last=Hacker |first=Marilyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wi_JDMXJZIcC&q=%22Ted+Genoways%22+%22stockyards%22&pg=PR11|title=Introduction to Bullroarer |publisher=Northeastern University Press |date=2001-10-01|isbn=9781555535070 }}

In 2003, while he was still a doctoral student at the University of Iowa and working at the Iowa Review, Genoways was hired by the University of Virginia to edit the Virginia Quarterly Review.{{cite web |url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/16765-ted-genoways |title=Ted Genoways |publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |accessdate=2014-04-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310170312/http://www.gf.org/fellows/16765-ted-genoways |archivedate=2014-03-10 }} He served as editor for the next nine years, during which time the magazine received six National Magazine Awards, two Utne Independent Press Awards, and an Overseas Press Club Award. In 2012, Genoways announced that he was stepping down as editor of VQR to pursue his writing career.{{cite web|url=http://news.virginia.edu/content/vqr-congratulates-ted-genoways-his-editorship-names-donovan-webster-interim-editor |title=VQR Congratulates Ted Genoways for His Editorship, Names Donovan Webster as Interim Editor; Celebrates 3 Magazine Award Nominations |publisher=UVAToday |date=2012-04-04 |accessdate=2014-08-09}}

Genoways has since become a contributing writer at Mother Jones and The New Republic, as well as an editor-at-large at Pacific Standard. His essays and poetry have appeared in The Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek, Harper's, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Poetry, and the Washington Post Book World. He has received a James Beard Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting, a MOTHER, and the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism.

In October 2014, Genoways published the book The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food, which Eric Schlosser in the New York Times Book Review called an "important book, well worth reading, full of compelling stories, genuine outrage and the careful exposure of corporate lies."{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/books/review/the-chain-by-ted-genoways.html?_r=0 |title=Review: The Chain, by Ted Genoways |publisher=New York Times Book Review |date=2014-11-21 |accessdate=2015-06-24}}

In September 2017, Genoways published This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Farm Family, which Arlo Crawford in the New York Times Book Review called "a cleareyed and unsentimental look at how farming has become relentlessly optimized by automation, markets and politics; factors that don’t always take into account the guy who’s actually driving the tractor."{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/books/review/this-blessed-earth-ted-genoways.html |title=Review: This Blessed Earth, by Ted Genoways |publisher=New York Times Book Review |date=2017-11-22 |accessdate=2018-05-03}} This Blessed Earth was the Nebraska Center for the Book's One Book One Nebraska selection, but Governor Pete Ricketts refused to sign the customary proclamation calling on citizens to read the book on the grounds that the This Blessed Earth, is written by a "political activist" and the story was "divisive."{{cite news |last1=Gutierrez |first1=Lisa |title=Nebraska governor won't honor book by 'political activist' who has criticized Trump |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article224069165.html#storylink=cpy |accessdate=5 March 2019 |publisher=Kansas City Star |date=8 January 2019}}{{cite news |title=Ricketts snubs Nebraska author chosen for recognition |url=https://apnews.com/f79905cf14234235b92a28807445d4b7 |accessdate=5 March 2019 |publisher=AP |date=7 January 2019}}

According to Publishers Weekly, his next book Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico is scheduled to be edited by John Glusman at Norton. Tequila Wars aims to "tell the story of the modern tequila industry."{{cite web|url=http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/67130-book-deals-week-of-june-15-2015.html |title=Genoways Closes Double At Norton |publisher=Publishers Weekly |date=2015-06-12 |accessdate=2015-06-24}}

Bibliography

= Nonfiction =

Walt Whitman and the Civil War: America's Poet During the Lost Years of 1860-1862, University of California Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-520-25906-5}}
The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food, HarperCollins, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0062288776}}
This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Farm Family, W. W. Norton, 2017, {{ISBN|978-0-393-29257-2}}
Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico, W.W. Norton, 2025, {{ISBN|978-0393292596}}

;As editor

A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War Prisoners from the 12th Iowa (co-editor), University of Iowa Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-87745-759-6}}
Hard time: voices from a state prison, 1849-1914, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-87351-434-7}}
Walt Whitman: The Correspondence, Volume VII, Iowa, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0877458913}}

= Poetry =

;Collections

Bullroarer: A Sequence, Northeastern University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-1-55553-507-0}}
Anna, Washing, University of Georgia Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-8203-3206-2}}

;Limited edition collections

The Dead Have a Way of Returning, Brooding Heron Press, 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-918116-92-5}}
The Cow Caught in the Ice, Soundpost Press, University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse, 1999.
Anna, washing, Parallel Press, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2001, {{ISBN|1-893311-19-8}}

;Edited volumes

Burning the Hymnal: The Uncollected Poems of William Kloefkorn, Slow Tempo Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0963555939}}
The Selected Poems of Miguel Hernández, University of Chicago Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-22632-773-0}}
Joseph Kalar, Papermill: Poems, 1927-1935, University of Illinois Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0252072000}}
Swallowing the Soap: The Selected Poems of William Kloefkorn, University of Nebraska Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0803234055}}

Awards

2024 James Beard Foundation Award, Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication{{cite web|url=https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/the-2024-james-beard-media-award-winners|title=2024 James Beard Award Winners|date=1 October 2018|access-date=2024-10-01}}
2023 Sidney Award from the Sidney Hillman Foundation{{cite web|url=https://hillmanfoundation.org/sidney-awards/ted-genoways-wins-june-sidney-shedding-light-police-shooting-hog-processing-plant|title=Ted Genoways wins June Sidney|date=1 October 2018|access-date=2024-10-01}} for “How a Refugee’s American Dream Ended in a Police Killing”
2018 James Beard Foundation Award, Investigative Reporting{{cite web|url=https://www.eater.com/2018/4/27/17286978/james-beard-foundation-awards-2018-media-winners-cookbooks-journalism|title=2018 James Beard Award Winners|date=27 April 2018|access-date=2018-05-03}}
2018 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize for This Blessed Earth{{cite web|url=http://journalstar.com/entertainment/books/lincoln-author-wins-great-plains-book-prize/article_d4f4b8f4-1eb8-5e8b-a13b-5ee824ab0c19.html|title=2018 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize|access-date=2018-05-03}}
2016 Association of Food Journalists Award, Best Writing on Beer, Wine or Spirits{{cite web|url=https://www.afjonline.com/blog/2017/5/29/and-the-winners-are-|title=2016 Association of Food Journalists Awards Winners|access-date=2016-06-02}}
2016 Association of Food Journalists Award, Best Food Business Story, Finalist{{cite web|url=https://www.afjonline.com/awards/|title=2016 Association of Food Journalists Awards Finalists|access-date=2016-06-02}}
2016 James Beard Foundation Award for Food Reporting, Finalist{{Cite web|url=http://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/2016-james-beard-award-nominees|title=James Beard Foundation|website=www.jamesbeard.org|access-date=2016-03-21}}
2015 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing and Literature, Finalist{{cite web|url=http://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/meet-book-nominees-2015-james-beard-awards|title=Meet the Book Nominees for the 2015 James Beard Awards|access-date=2014-06-24}}
2014 National Press Club Award{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/30/usa-today-wins-national-press-club-awards-2014/13368077/|title=National Press Club Award Winners - USA Today|website=USA Today |access-date=2014-08-09}}
2014 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism{{cite web|url=http://brie.hunter.cuny.edu/aronson/|title=James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism - Hunter College|access-date=2014-08-09}}
2014 Association of Food Journalists Award, Best Story on Food Policy or Food Issues, Finalist{{cite web|url=http://www.eater.com/2014/5/23/6218681/2014-association-of-food-journalists-awards-finalists|title=2014 Association of Food Journalists Awards Finalists|date=23 May 2014|access-date=2016-06-02}}
2010 Guggenheim Fellowship
2010 Choice / American Library Association Outstanding Academic Title for Walt Whitman and the Civil War
2003 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in Poetry.Miller, Pamela. "Poetry, Well-Versed" Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Dec. 16, 2001
2002 Natalie Ornish Poetry Award for Bullroarer{{cite web |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2002_3530752/houstonians-other-texas-writers-lauded.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119202557/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2002_3530752/houstonians-other-texas-writers-lauded.html |archive-date=January 19, 2013 |accessdate=2023-04-21 |title=Archived}}{{dl|date=April 2023}}
2002 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry for Bullroarer{{cite web|url=http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/awards/winners/nebook.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018042944/http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/awards/winners/nebook.html|archive-date=2010-10-18|url-status=dead|title=Nebraska Book Award Winners - Nebraska Center for the Book|accessdate=2014-04-12}}