Brenda Ann Shaughnessy
born 1970 in Okinawa
raised in Southern California
B.A. in literature and women's studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz
M.F.A. at Columbia University's Writing Division
Interior with Sudden Joy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, June 1999) nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and finalist for the PEN/Joyce C. Osterweil Award and the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award
selected in 1999 by the Village Voice as one of the "Writers on the Verge"
received an Emerging Artist's award from The Greenwall Foundation and NYU's International Center for Advanced Studies
recipient of a Creative Artist's Fellowship from the Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission for 2001-02
has appeared in The Paris Review, Yale Review, Boston Review, Chelsea, Conjunctions, Best American Poetry 2000, among others
teaches at the City University of New York's Lehman College
working to discover her roots as an Okinawan-American, dividing her time between major urban centers and the Okinawan islands, has researched the history and religion of Okinawa, exploring the differences of the cultures and attempting to nurture a subjective awareness of her personal background in order to better inform her poetry
Brenda Shaughnessy - info and links
Brenda Shaughnessy article about Sapphire at Village Voice Literary Supplement
Brenda Shaughnessy at Academy of American Poets
Brenda Shaughnessy at Boston Review
Brenda Shaughnessy at Exquisite Corpse
Brenda Shaughnessy at Village Voice Literary Supplement