Maura Stanton
Encyclopedia
Biography
Maura Stanton was born to Joseph Stanton, a salesman, and Wanda Haggard Stanton, a nurse, in Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
. She received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1969, and her M.F.A. in 1971 from the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
.
She married Richard Cecil in 1972. She has taught at the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
at Cortland (1972–1973), the University of Richmond
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...
(1973–1977), Humboldt State University
Humboldt State University
Humboldt State University is the northernmost campus of the California State University system, located in Arcata within Humboldt County, California, USA. The main campus, nestled at the edge of a coast redwood forest, is situated on Preston hill overlooking Arcata and with commanding views of...
(1977–1978), the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
(1978–1982), and Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, since 1982. She was also named as the distinguished author in residence at Mary Washington College for the 1981-1982 academic year.
Her first book of poetry, SNOW ON SNOW, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award in 1975, and was reissued by Carnegie-Mellon University Press in 1993 as part of its contemporary classics series. Her second book, CRIES OF SWIMMERS, was published by the University of Utah Press in 1984 and was reissued by Carnegie-Mellon University Press in 1991. Her work appeared in Ploughshares.
Awards
- Lawrence Foundation Prize in Fiction from Michigan Quarterly Review in 1982
- Frances Steloff Fiction Prize in 1975
- National Endowment for the Arts grants in 1974 and 1982
- 1998 Nelson Algren Awards "Ping-Pong"
- 2001 Richard Sullivan Award in Short Fiction
- 2003 Michigan Literary Fiction Award
Works
- Little-Known Birl of The Inner Eye (after the picture by Morris Graves), Oxford Poetry Vol III No 1 (Winter 1986)
- Through the Dark, Caffine Destiny online
- Royal Harp, The Atlantic, October 2008
- God's Ode to Creation, Verse Daily
Criticism
Ploughshares
- The Pear Orchard, Ploughshares, , Summer 1972
- The Robber Bridegroom, Ploughshares, , Spring 1975
- Circles, Ploughshares, , Spring 1977
- Bathroom Walls, Ploughshares, Spring 1977
- New Neighbors in the South, Ploughshares, Spring 1977
- Heaven, Ploughshares, Winter 1984
- Attendant Lord, Ploughshares, Winter 1984
- The Cuckoo Clock, Ploughshares, Winter 1984
- Space, Ploughshares, Spring 1985
- March, Ploughshares, Spring 1985
- The Palace, Ploughshares, Fall 1985
- (guest editor), Ploughshares, Spring 1989
- Number Seventeen, Ploughshares, Fall 1991
- The House of Cleopatra, Ploughshares, Spring 1992
- Squash Flowers, Ploughshares, Spring 1997
- Ben Nevis, Ploughshares, Winter 1997-98
- Happiness, Ploughshares, Winter 1997-98
- Milk of Human Kindness, Ploughshares, Fall 2001
- Glass House, Ploughshares, Fall 2001
Reviews
The poet and novelist Maura Stanton's interwoven short stories about growing up in the Midwest trace the awakening of adult consciousness in its unnamed narrator, a strongly moral, sensible girl, resentful of the world's ability to impinge on even the most serene domestic scenes and the complicity of memory in the process: Inside everyone's head, just below their pretty or bored wandering eyes, the strangest and most frightening pictures must be permanently etched.