Colleen J. McElroy

Colleen J. McElroy (October 31, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri – December 12, 2023)^[1] was an American poet, short story writer, editor, and memoirist.^[2][3]

Colleen J. McElroy
Born	(1935-10-31)October 31, 1935 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	December 12, 2023(2023-12-12) (aged 88) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Language	English
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Kansas State University
Notable works	Sidewalk Games
Notable awards	American Book Award

Life

She graduated from Kansas State University (1958) and from the University of Washington with a Ph.D. (1973).^[1][4] She was a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, where she was the first African-American woman to serve as a full-time faculty member. From 1995 to 2006, she edited The Seattle Review, first in the role of Poetry Editor, then as Editor-in-Chief.^[5][6] She lived in Seattle, Washington,^[7] until her death in December 2023.^[8]

Awards

• 1978 awarded the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship for Poetry^[1]
• 1985 American Book Award^[1]
• 1988 Fulbright Creative Writing Fellowship, which took her to Yugoslavia^[1]
• 1991 awarded the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship for Fiction^[1]
• 1992 DuPont Distinguished Scholar in Residence^[1]
• 1991 Rockefeller Fellowship to the Bellagio Center in Lake Como, Italy^[1]
• 1993 Fulbright Creative Writing Fellowship, which took her to Madagascar.^[1]

Works

Poetry

Poems

• Sidewalk Games^[9]
• Webs and Weeds^[10]
• Out Here Even Crows Commit Suicide^[11]
• Lothar's Wife^[12]

Poetry Collections

• Music From Home: selected poems^[13]
• Winters Without Snow^[14]
• Lie and Say You Love Me^[15]
• Looking for a Country Under Its Original Name^[16]
• Queen of the Ebony Isles^[17]
• Bone Flames: Poems^[18]
• What Madness Brought Me Here^[19]
• Travelling Music^[20]
• Sleeping with the Moon^[21]
• Here I Throw Down My Heart^[22]
• Blood Memory^[23]

Memoirs

• A Long Way from St. Louie^[24]
• Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar^[25]

Short stories

• Driving under the cardboard pines and other stories^[26]
• Jesus and Fat Tuesday: and other short stories^[27]

Anthologies

• Best American Poetry 2001^[28]
• Oxford Anthology of African American Literature^[29]

Ploughshares

• While Poets Are Watching^[30]
• Caution: This Woman Brakes for Memories ^[31]
• Paris Subway Tango^[32]
• Crossing the Rubicon at Seventy^[33]
• Furlough^[34]