Chad Sweeney
Encyclopedia
Life
Chad Sweeney is the author of three books of poetry, Parable of Hide and Seek (Alice James BooksAlice James Books
Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.- History and mission :...
, forthcoming 2010), Arranging the Blaze (Anhinga, 2009), and An Architecture (BlazeVox, 2007); and four chapbooks, most recently A Mirror to Shatter the Hammer (Tarpaulin Sky Press
Tarpaulin Sky Press
Tarpaulin Sky Press is a small press publisher of hybrid texts as well as poetry and prose. Founded by Christian Peet in 2006 and based in Grafton, Vermont, the company produces full-length books, chapbooks, trade paperbacks, hand-bound books, and a literary journal that appears in online and paper...
, 2006). With David Holler, Sweeney edits the literary journal Parthenon West Review, a journal of contemporary poetry, translation and essays.
Sweeney's poems have appeared in Best American Poetry 2008 and Verse Daily, and in numerous journals and magazines including New American Writing, Black Warrior Review, Verse, Volt, Slope, Barrow Street, Colorado Review, and Denver Quarterly. With Mojdeh Marashi, he has translated a selected poems by the Iranian poet, H.E. Sayeh (Hushang Ebtehaj
Hushang Ebtehaj
Hushang Ebtehaj , with the pen name of H. E. Sayeh is an eminent Iranian poet of the 20th century, whose life and work spans many of Iran's political, cultural and literary upheavals....
), with individual poems appearing in such magazines as Crazyhorse, American Letters & Commentary, Indiana Review, Poetry International, Subtropics, Pingpong and Seattle Review. He has been awarded both a Project Grant and a Cultural Equities Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission for his work as editor and translator, respectively.
Sweeney taught for seven years in the San Francisco WritersCorps
Writerscorps
WritersCorps is an American artists-in-service organization that hires professional writers to teach creative writing to youth. It grew from a national service model in the WPA tradition and is now an alliance of separately-run organizations in three cities....
, where he compiled and edited Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: the Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose (City Lights, 2009), an anthology of poetry, fiction, memoir and playwriting by fifty teaching artists in the National WritersCorps, each of whom led writing workshops in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and the Bronx with “at risk” youth in public schools, housing projects and detention facilities. In 2010, Sweeney published "The Lost Notebooks of Juan Sweeney De Las Minas De Cobre," a chapbook of poems he translated from Spanish. The chapbooks were soaked in wine and baked in an oven and published through Forklift, Ink.
Born in Oklahoma in 1970, Sweeney holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
and San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
. He taught literature and poetry in San Francisco for fifteen years before entering the Ph.D. program in literature at Western Michigan University in 2008, where he teaches poetry and serves as assistant editor of New Issues Press
New Issues Press
New Issues Press is a literary press associated with Western Michigan University. It was founded by poet and Western Michigan University professor Herbert S. Scott...
. He lives in Kalamazoo with his wife, poet Jennifer K. Sweeney
Jennifer K. Sweeney
-Life:Jennifer K. Sweeney is the author of two poetry collections, most recently, How to Live on Bread and Music , winner of the 2009 James Laughlin Award and the 2009 Perugia Press Prize. Her first collection, Salt Memory won the 2006 Main Street Rag Poetry Award...
.
Published works
Full-Length Poetry Collections- Parable of Hide and Seek, (Alice James BooksAlice James BooksAlice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.- History and mission :...
, forthcoming 2010)
- Arranging the Blaze, (Anhinga PressAnhinga PressAnhinga Press is an American, independent, literary press located in Tallahassee, Florida. The press began in 1972 as an outgrowth of the Apalachee Poetry Center, a non-profit organization promoting the reading and understanding of poetry. In 1976, founder and poet, Van Brock, expanded the scope of...
, 2009)
- An Architecture, (BlazeVOX Books, 2007)
Chapbooks
- A Mirror to Shatter the Hammer, (Tarpaulin Sky PressTarpaulin Sky PressTarpaulin Sky Press is a small press publisher of hybrid texts as well as poetry and prose. Founded by Christian Peet in 2006 and based in Grafton, Vermont, the company produces full-length books, chapbooks, trade paperbacks, hand-bound books, and a literary journal that appears in online and paper...
, 2006)
- Nail by Nail the Sunlight, (Brooklyn, NY: Urban Iris Press, 2003)
- Mushrooms, (San Francisco, CA: 3300 Press, 1995)
- Relearning the Tongue, (Edmond, OK: Broncho Press, 1993)
Works Edited
- Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds (City Lights, San Francisco, CA: 2009) ISBN 978-1931404105.
- Parthenon West Review (Issues 1 - 6, Berkeley, CA)
External links
Poems Online- Verse Daily > April 2009 Web Monthly Feature > 33 Translations of One Basho by Chad Sweeney
- H_ngm_n H_NG M_N > Captain's Log and Silence by Chad Sweeney
- Fou Magazine > The Warden and His Keys, Lithuania, and Earthquake > by Chad Sweeney
- Subtropics > Sunset on the Green co-translation of H.E. Sayeh by Chad Sweeney and Mojdeh Marashi > Issue 6, 2008
- "Parable of Day," "Notes Toward Making," "Character Development". Electronic Poetry Review 8, 2008.
- "Fire Escape as Axis Mundi," "Inheritance,". DMQ Review, Fall 2008.
- "Nocturne," "Wind beneath the Skin," "Shadowdogs". Gutcult 10, Fall 2008.
- "from An Architecture". Coconut, Issue 10, 2007.
- "from An Architecture". Shampoo Poetry 29, 2007.
- "A Love Song," "Poem," "Landscape," "The Auction". Slope 23, 2006.
- "New Mexico". Tarpaulin Sky, 2006.
- "Thanksgiving," "Where," "Journey to Detroit," "Of What Continues". Eratio, Issue 8, 2006.
Audio/Video Links
- AWP Conference, Book Release Video, Chicago, February 14, 2009. At The Great American Pin-Up.
- Moe's Books, Video, Berkeley, CA, August 4, 2008.
- Moe's Books, Audio of full-length reading, Berkeley, CA, August 4, 2008.
Review Links
- Review of Arranging the Blaze in Coldfront Magazine by Rick Marlatt, June 5, 2009.
- Review of Arranging the Blaze in storySouth by Stefanie Silva, September, 2009.
- Review of Days I Moved through Ordinary Sounds" in The Brooklyn Rail: Critical Perspectives on Art, Politics and Culture, by Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, May 2009.
- Review of An Architecture in Coldfront Magazine by John Deming, July 8, 2008.
- Review of An Architecture in Galatea * Resurrects by Eileen Tabios, March 30, 2008.
- Review of A Mirror to Shatter the Hammer in Verse Magazine by Chris Vola, December 7, 2006.
Interview Links
- Chad Sweeney on The Joe Milford Poetry Show, Interview by Joseph Milford, July 19, 2008.
- Interview with Maurice Kenny at World Literature Today, May–August 2005.