Sherod Santos

American poet

Sherod Santos (born September 9, 1948 in South Carolina) is an American poet, essayist, translator and playwright.^[1] He is the author of eight collections of poetry, most recentlyThe Burning World (Arrowsmith Press) in 2024, and Square Inch Hours (W.W. Norton) in 2017. Individual poems have appeared in The New Yorker,^[2] The Paris Review,^[3] The Nation,^[4] Poetry, Proscenium Theatre Journal, American Poetry Review, and The New York Times Book Review. His plays have been produced at The Algonquin Theatre in New York City, The Royal Court Theatre in London, The Side Project in Chicago, the Brooklyn International Theatre Festival, and the Flint Michigan Play Festival. Santos also wrote the settings for the Sappho poems in the CD Magus Insipiens, composed by Paul Sanchez and sung by soprano Kayleen Sanchez.

His many honors and awards include an Academy Award for Literary Excellence from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Umhoefer Prize for Achievement in the Humanities, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, the Theodore Roethke Memorial Prize. He was a finalist for The New Yorker Book Award in Poetry as well as The National Book Critics Circle Award and The National Book Award. From 1990 to 1998 he served as external examiner and poet-in-residence at the Poets' House outside Belfast, Northern Ireland.

He lives in Santa Fe, where he works with a hunger relief program serving the nine counties of Northern New Mexico.

Honors and awards

2024 Selected for Best Literary Translations 2024
2006 Umhoefer Prize for Achievement in the Humanities for Greek Lyric Poetry: A New Translation
2002 Theodore Roethke Poetry Prize for The Pilot Star Elegies
2001 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism Finalist for A Poetry of Two Minds
2000 National Book Award Finalist
1999 Academy Award for Literary Excellence from the American Academy of Arts & Letters
1999 The New Yorker Book Award in Poetry Finalist
1998 Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry from the Paris Review for "Elegy for My Sister"
1987 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship
1995 British Arts Council International Travel Grant
1984 The Robert Frost Place poet in residence in Franconia, New Hampshire
1983 Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award
1983 Guggenheim Fellowship^[5]
1982 Ingram Merrill Foundation fellowship
1981 Oscar Blumenthal Prize from Poetry magazine
1980 Pushcart Prize in both poetry and the essay
1978 "Discovery"/The Nation Award

Published works

Full-Length Poetry Collections

The Burning World. Arrowsmith Press. 2024, ISBN 979-8-9863401-5-9
Square Inch Hours. W. W. Norton & Company. 2017, ISBN 0393254984
The Intricated Soul. W. W. Norton & Company. 2010. ISBN 978-0-393-07216-7.
The Perishing. W. W. Norton & Company. 2004. ISBN 978-0-393-32576-8.
The Pilot Star Elegies. W. W. Norton & Company. 2000. ISBN 978-0-393-32049-7.
The City of Women. W. W. Norton & Company. 1994. ISBN 978-0-393-31175-4.
The Southern Reaches. Wesleyan University Press. 1989.
Accidental Weather. Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1982.

Essay Collections

A Poetry of Two Minds. University of Georgia Press. 2000. ISBN 978-0-8203-2204-9.

Translations

Greek Lyric Poetry: A New Translation. W. W. Norton & Company. 2005 ISBN 0-393-06056-X

Plays

Follow the Leader. Produced at The Side Project, Chicago, IL, 2016.
Lives of the Pigeons. Produced at The Side Project, Chicago, IL, 2013
Star. Produced at Algonquin Theatre, New York City, 2010
Coffee Shop. Produced as part of Flint Michigan Play Festival, 2010

References

^ International Who's Who in Poetry 2004. Taylor & Francis. 2004. ISBN 978-1-85743-178-0.
^ "Page not found - The New Yorker". newyorker.com. Retrieved 2014-10-11. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
^ http://www.parisreview.com/results.php?prmKeyword=Sherod%20Santos^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Trillin, Calvin (28 September 2011). "Home | The Nation". thenation.com. Retrieved 2014-10-11. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
^ "Sherod Santos - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation". gf.org. Archived from the original on 2014-10-17. Retrieved 2014-10-11.

External links

Audio: Sherod Santos reads Variation on a Theme (I) from The Intricated Soul
Poems: Slate Magazine > May 6, 2008 > A Place in Maine by Sherod Santos
"Poems: Poetry Society of America > The Book of Blessings by Sherod Santos". Archived from the original on 2002-09-14. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
Poem: Poetry Foundation > from Elegy for My Sister by Sherod Santos
Poem: Valpariso Poetry Review > A Writer's Life by Sherod Santos