Julie Kane
Encyclopedia
Julie Kane is a contemporary American poet
, scholar, and editor
and the Louisiana Poet Laureate for the 2011-2013 term. Although born in Massachusetts
, Kane has lived in Louisiana
for over three decades and writes about the region with the doubled consciousness of a non-native. Her work shows the influence of the Confessional Poets; indeed, she was a student in Anne Sexton
's graduate poetry seminar at Boston University
at the time of Sexton's suicide. She is also associated with the New Formalist movement in contemporary poetry, although she has published free verse
as well as formal verse. Her formal poems tend to bend the "rules" of poetic forms and employ slant rhyme.
, upstate New York
, and New Jersey
. Her father, Edwin Julian Kane, was a radio and TV newscaster, and her mother, Nanette Spillane Kane, was a grade school teacher who published a handful of articles and short stories in journals like Redbook
and The Christian Science Monitor
.
Kane graduated from Cornell University
in 1974, where she studied with A. R. Ammons, William Matthews
, and Robert Morgan
. She won the Mademoiselle Magazine
College Poetry Competition, which was judged by Sexton and James Merrill
, and went on to study with Sexton at Boston University
, where she received her M.A. in Creative Writing
. From Boston, Kane moved to Exeter, New Hampshire
, as the first woman named to the George Bennett Fellowship in Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy
.
In 1976, Kane moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana
, where she began to incorporate her impressions of the unique landscape and culture of the area into her poetry. Taking a job as a technical writer in New Orleans, she became associated with poets who frequented the weekly literary readings held at the Maple Leaf Bar
—including Yusef Komunyakaa
, Grace Bauer
, and Everette Maddox. In 1982, British poet Geoffrey Godbert's Only Poetry Press published a two-woman collection of Kane's and Ruth Adatia's poems, titled Two Into One. In 1987, Kane's first full-length poetry collection, Body and Soul, came out from Pirogue Publishing. In 1991, Greville Press published her chapbook, The Bartender Poems, and she was introduced by Harold Pinter
at the Southbank Centre in London
.
Kane returned to graduate school at Louisiana State University
in 1991. While there, she won the Academy of American Poets
Prize and wrote her dissertation on the villanelle
under poet Dave Smith. After earning her PhD, she took a position at Northwestern State University
, where she is Professor of English and Creative Writing. She has been a Fulbright Scholar to Vilnius Pedagogical University
, and a two-time Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University
in New Orleans.
Her work has appeared in The Formalist, The Southern Review, London Magazine, Feminist Studies, Modern Language Quarterly, Twentieth Century Literature, Literature/Film Quarterly, Journal of Consciousness Studies.
Two of her poems have been set to music by composer Libby Larsen
and recorded on CDs by the American Boychoir and by mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer
.
chapbook chapbook
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, scholar, and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
and the Louisiana Poet Laureate for the 2011-2013 term. Although born in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Kane has lived in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
for over three decades and writes about the region with the doubled consciousness of a non-native. Her work shows the influence of the Confessional Poets; indeed, she was a student in Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
's graduate poetry seminar at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
at the time of Sexton's suicide. She is also associated with the New Formalist movement in contemporary poetry, although she has published free verse
Free verse
Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
as well as formal verse. Her formal poems tend to bend the "rules" of poetic forms and employ slant rhyme.
Life
Kane grew up in MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
, and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Her father, Edwin Julian Kane, was a radio and TV newscaster, and her mother, Nanette Spillane Kane, was a grade school teacher who published a handful of articles and short stories in journals like Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
and The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
.
Kane graduated from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1974, where she studied with A. R. Ammons, William Matthews
William Matthews (poet)
William Matthews was an American poet and essayist.-Life:Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Matthews earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University, and a master's from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.In addition to serving as a Writer-in-Residence at Boston's Emerson College, Matthews...
, and Robert Morgan
Robert Morgan (poet)
-Life:He studied at North Carolina State University as an engineering and mathematics major, and University of North Carolina Greensboro.He teaches at Cornell University beginning in 1971.-Awards:...
. She won the Mademoiselle Magazine
Mademoiselle (magazine)
Mademoiselle was an influential women's magazine first published in 1935 by Street and Smith and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications....
College Poetry Competition, which was judged by Sexton and James Merrill
James Merrill
James Ingram Merrill was an American poet whose awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Divine Comedies...
, and went on to study with Sexton at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, where she received her M.A. in Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
. From Boston, Kane moved to Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town's population was 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood...
, as the first woman named to the George Bennett Fellowship in Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
.
In 1976, Kane moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, where she began to incorporate her impressions of the unique landscape and culture of the area into her poetry. Taking a job as a technical writer in New Orleans, she became associated with poets who frequented the weekly literary readings held at the Maple Leaf Bar
Maple Leaf Bar
The Maple Leaf Bar is a music performance venue in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is also a bar and hosts a variety of other events.The Maple Leaf is on Oak Street in the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans. Opened on Feb 24, 1974, it is one of the longest continuing operations of New...
—including Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly...
, Grace Bauer
Grace Bauer
Grace Bauer is an American poet. She lives in Nebraska, grew up in Pennsylvania and has also lived in New Orleans, Montana, Virginia and Massachusetts.-Education and Awards:...
, and Everette Maddox. In 1982, British poet Geoffrey Godbert's Only Poetry Press published a two-woman collection of Kane's and Ruth Adatia's poems, titled Two Into One. In 1987, Kane's first full-length poetry collection, Body and Soul, came out from Pirogue Publishing. In 1991, Greville Press published her chapbook, The Bartender Poems, and she was introduced by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
at the Southbank Centre in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Kane returned to graduate school at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in 1991. While there, she won the Academy of American Poets
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
Prize and wrote her dissertation on the villanelle
Villanelle
A villanelle is a poetic form that entered English-language poetry in the 19th century from the imitation of French models. The word derives from the Italian villanella from Latin villanus . A villanelle has only two rhyme sounds...
under poet Dave Smith. After earning her PhD, she took a position at Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
, where she is Professor of English and Creative Writing. She has been a Fulbright Scholar to Vilnius Pedagogical University
Vilnius Pedagogical University
Vilnius Pedagogical University is a university in Vilnius, Lithuania, which specializes in preparing school teachers and other educators. As of 2007 it had approximately 12,500 students.-History:...
, and a two-time Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans.
Her work has appeared in The Formalist, The Southern Review, London Magazine, Feminist Studies, Modern Language Quarterly, Twentieth Century Literature, Literature/Film Quarterly, Journal of Consciousness Studies.
Two of her poems have been set to music by composer Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over fifteen operas...
and recorded on CDs by the American Boychoir and by mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer
Susanne Mentzer
Susanne Mentzer is an operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, Octavian in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and the composer in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as other music of...
.
Awards
- Academy of American PoetsAcademy of American PoetsThe Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
Prize, judged by Louise GlückLouise GlückLouise Elisabeth Glück is an American poet of Hungarian Jewish heritage. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2003, after serving as a Special Bicentennial Consultant three years prior in 2000.... - Lewis P. Simpson Award for her dissertation on the villanelle, directed by poet Dave Smith
- 2002 National Poetry SeriesNational Poetry SeriesThe National Poetry Series is an American literary awards program.Every year since 1979 it has sponsored the publication of five books of poetry...
for Rhythm & Booze selected by Maxine KuminMaxine KuminMaxine Kumin is an American poet and author. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1981-1982.-Early years:... - 2002 Fulbright Scholar at Vilnius Pedagogical UniversityVilnius Pedagogical UniversityVilnius Pedagogical University is a university in Vilnius, Lithuania, which specializes in preparing school teachers and other educators. As of 2007 it had approximately 12,500 students.-History:...
, LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... - 2009 Donald Justice Poetry PrizeDonald Justice Poetry PrizeThe Donald Justice Poetry Prize is a nationally-known prize sponsored by the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Awards by the West Chester University Poetry Center. Given annually since 2006 to one American poet for an unpublished book-length manuscript of formal poetry, the award includes $1000 and an...
sponsored by the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Awards
Poetry
chapbook chapbook
Reviews
Jazz Funeral is an elegant collection of sonnets structured in the form of its title -- with the march to the cemetery, the eulogy -- for the late Robert Borsodi, whose Borsodi's Coffehouse was a gathering place for poets, and the final celebration of cutting the body loose.
These finely composed sonnets celebrate life, even as they are filled with intimations of mortality -- a witch's hair that sprouts from a chin, friends and pets who have departed this life, a brush with illness.