Amelia Martens
martensamelia@gmail.com
Literary Arts Experience
Poetry Instructor June 16-23, 2018
The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing
Invited by director Alexander Weinstein to teach two generative workshops, “Who’s on First: The Persona Poem at Play” and “The Pliable Prose Poem”, consult on student manuscripts, and give a reading during Week 2 of MVICW.
Poetry Instructor Nov. 10-11, 2017
15th Annual Millikin Literary Festival, Millikin University
Invited by Director Dr. Stephen Frech to teach a generative workshop class, give a craft talk, and offer a reading of my work to high school, college, and community festival attendees on the campus of Millikin University.
Craft Talk
University of Cincinnati Clermont, Batavia, OH. Oct. 2017
Invited by Professor Phoebe Reeves to discuss the process of manuscript development, revision, and the writing life with UC Cincinnati students
Poetry Instructor July 9-15, 2017
The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing
Invited by director Alexander Weinstein to teach two generative workshops, “The Pliable Prose Poem” and “Big World, Little World: Poems that Matter”, consult on student manuscripts, and give a reading during Week 1 of MVICW.
“The Pliable Prose Poem”, Workshop Instructor June 2017
Open Books Poetry Emporium, Seattle WA.
Taught a one-day in-store generative workshop focused on the female history and current practices in the prose poem.
“Crossing Boundaries”, Panelist Nov. 2016
Louisville Literary Arts, Writer’s Block Festival
Invited by the Board of Directors to participate on a panel focused on fluidity of forms with writers Erik Reece and Brandon Shatter.
“Exhilarating Highs and Terrifying Lows: Two Poets”, Panelist Oct. 2016
Southern Festival of Books
Invited to develop a panel with poet Tina Parker concerned with the complexities of poetic parenthood, feminism, and writing rituals.
Poetry Manuscript Consultant 2016-Present
Black Lawrence Press
Recruited by Executive Editor Diane Goettel to offer poetry consultations of folios, chapbooks, and full-length manuscripts through the press
Kentucky Rural Urban Exchange, Member 2016
Paducah, Harlan County, Lexington
Served as one of 80 participants from across Kentucky to create a network of integrated partnerships in key sectors (arts, health, social activism, business, and education) to address Kentucky’s social and economic future. Participants are matched across sectors and collaborate on a project over the two-year exchange cycle.
“The Art of the Chapbook”, Panelist July 2016
MFA Summer Residency, Murray State University
Invited by MSU Creative Writing Program Director Ann Neelon to join Vandana Khanna and Amy Wright in a discussion of the chapbook relating to form, book arts, personal approach, and pedagogy practices.
Conference Class Instructor June 4-8, 2016
Indiana University Writers’ Conference
Invited by Conference Director Bob Bledsoe to design a four-day class open to all genre participants of the conference. “MicroMacro: The Prose Poem as the Best Nest” focused on demystifying the prose poem, valuing marginalized voices, and generative exercises.
“Lay it on the Line” Panelist April 2016
Southern Kentucky Book Fest, Western Kentucky University
Participated by invitation at SOKY Book Fest and presented as part of a panel also featuring Kathleen Driskell, Leatha Kendrick, Jane Olmsted, and Tom Hunley.
Poetry Workshop Craft Discussion and Class Visit April 2018 and April 2016
Indiana University
Invited by IU MFA Creative Writing Pedagogy Director Romayne Rubinas to meet with her undergraduate Advanced Poetry Workshop as part of their Living Authors Series, to discuss publishing, craft, and construction of a writing life.
Reviews Editor 2015-Present
Exit 7: A Journal of Literature and Art
Proposed adding reviews to Exit 7. Solicitation of books, and crafting reviews of new poetry collections by women. Developed curriculum for student reviewers for use with chapbook reviews.
“Cultivating Creative Thinkers” Keynote Address Sept. 2015
Two-Year College Association of Teachers of English-Southeast
Presented keynote address, at the Kentucky State Conference, which focused on integrating creativity into college classrooms and ways to advance creativity in expanded course offerings.
“Life after the MFA” Panelist July 2015
MFA Summer Residency, Murray State University
Invited by Director Ann Neelon to participant on a panel including fellow authors Nickole Brown, Gary Jackson, Katie Mullins, and Marcus Wicker. Panel focused on writing-life balance, building community, teaching options, free-lance opportunities, and panelists’ personal post-MFA experiences.
Panel Judge 2014-Present
Black Lawrence Press
Currently serve as a panel judge for the Black River Chapbook Competition, which involves a first-round reading of fifty poetry and fiction chapbook submissions, and a second-round reading of selected finalists.
Associate Literary Editor 2012-Present
Exit 7: A Journal of Literature and Art
Work in collaboration with the founding editor, Britton Shurley, at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, to solicit and review submissions by established and emerging writers for an editorial process that is unique in its involvement of community college student editors.
Series Co-founder 2009-Present
Rivertown Reading Series
Noted a lack of community literary activities in Paducah, Kentucky and created a series to highlight regionally and nationally published writers. Responsible for author bookings, promotion of readings through social media, and maintaining relationships with art gallery venues.
Publications
Book (poetry):
The Spoons in the Grass are There to Dig a Moat 2016
2014 Linda Bruckheimer Series in Kentucky Literature
Sarabande Books
Chapbooks (poetry):
Ursa Minor 2018
2017 Prose Chapbook Prize, selected by Lance Larsen
elsewhere magazine
A Series of Faults 2014
Finishing Line Press
Clatter 2013
Floating Wolf Quarterly
Purgatory 2012
Fall 2010 Black River Chapbook Competition winner
Black Lawrence Press
Individual Poems:
“Morning Walk: September 11, 2018”
Hunger Mountain, Silence + Power Issue (forthcoming, 2019)
“The 3 Properties of Wool”, “Making a Death Pit”
The Laurel Review (forthcoming, 2019)
“Sanctuaries Dissolve in Sepia Sunsets”
Cave Wall (forthcoming, 2019)
“Cooking in Ashes”
Plume Nov. 2018
“And Stephen Hawking is dead and we will bomb…”
“And Stephen Hawking is dead, but the whale…”
“And Stephen Hawking is dead and a pedestrian…”
pidgeonholes June 2018
“Still in the 21st Century”, “Disaster Doesn’t Have to Be Spectacular”
The Fairy Tale Review, The Charcoal Issue 2018
“Upon Falling Through Ice”, “Determining Direction by Sun Alone”,
“When the Woods are Wet”
Tinderbox Poetry Journal Feb. 2018
“A Fat Baby Chews Plastic”, “Dear People of the Near Future”: flying cars
Medium, Spotlight #17 Sept. 2017
“Early in the 21st Century”, “Every Time They Hear a Helicopter”
Diode, Vol. 10, #3 Fall 2017
“Dear People of the Near Future”: cutlery
“Dear People of the Near Future”: lonely scientists
The Indianapolis Review Summer 2017
“PB & J”, “Before the Games Begin”, “Sewn”
Ninth Letter, Southern Writers Web Edition Winter 2017
“The Little Girl and the Bear Work a Puzzle of the Earth”
Tinderbox Poetry Journal Mar. 2017
“The Apology”, “Postcard from The End”
Southern Humanities Review Oct. 2016
“After the Fedora”, “On Earth”, “The Ocean Bank”
The American Journal of Poetry July 2016
“Some Day We Will Be Scientists, or Farmers”
New Flash Fiction Review, Prose Poem Issue June 2016
“Marathon”, “Shoreline”
Plume Spring 2016
“Already at War”, “We Will Be Long Gone”, “Free Time”
South Dakota Review Spring 2016
“Pre-Alice”, “A Field”, “Eyelashes as Stitches”, “Primitive Oceans”
The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review Fall 2015
“Tuesday”, “Forecast”
pacficREVIEW June 2015
“Collection”, “Pink Pigs and Orange Horses”
Squalorly 2015
“Baggage”
Iron Horse Literary Review NaPoMo-2013
“Because I am in the Junkyard”
Willow Springs Spring 2013
“Arrival”, “Teaching His Daughters”
Bellingham Review Spring 2012
“A Hundred Miles from the Border”, “In the Land of Milk”
The Chattahoochee Review Spring 2012
“Waking Up With Thoughts of How to Blow Up America”
Folio Spring 2012
“When the Incredible Shrinking Woman Gets Caught in the Garbage Disposal”
Crab Creek Review 2011
“Lincoln at his 200th Birthday Party”
Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley 2011
“The Doppelgangers’ Daughter Gets Her First EKG”
Whiskey Island Fall 2009
“The Doppelgangers’ Daughter Takes Down Christmas Lights”
“The Doppelgangers’ Daughter Left Her First Husband”
Epicenter 2009
“In the Kingdom of Calm”
pacficREVIEW 2008-9 Issue
“Sitting Ducks”
Connecticut Review Fall 2008
“Letter from the Bottom of the World”
The Madison Review Spring 2007
“Yesterday Another Airplane”, “Captured”
Slipstream 2007
“Son of Superman”, “Afternoon Thunderstorms”
Kudzu 2007
Selected Readings
Featured Reader:
The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing June 2018
InKY Reading Series with Leesa Cross-Smith, Louisville, KY May 2018
15th Annual Millikin Literary Festival, Millikin University Nov. 2017
UC Clermont Poetry Series, Univ. of Cincinnati, Batavia, OH Oct. 2017
Kentucky Great Writers Series, Carnegie Center, Lexington, KY Oct. 2017
The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing July 2017
Left Bank Books with Robert Long Foreman, St. Louis, MO. April 2017
Monster Magazines of the Midwest, AWP Off-site, Washington DC Feb. 2017
Transylvania University, Lexington KY Nov. 2016
Spalding at 21c: Voice and Vision, Louisville, KY Sept. 2016
Nitty Gritty Magic City Reading Series, Birmingham, AL Sept. 2016
Murray State University MFA Summer Residency July 2016
Poetrio Series with Ed Madden and Tina Parker, Malaprop’s Bookstore,
Asheville, NC. July 2016
Kentucky Poetry Sampler, Pages & Pints Reading Series, Richmond, KY June 2016 Indiana University Writers’ Conference, Bloomington IN June 2016
Holler Poets Series, Lexington, KY May 2016
An Evening of Prose Poems with Jane Wong and Gary Copeland Lilley
Seattle, WA. May 2016
Queen Anne Book Company with Hannah Faith Notess, Seattle, WA. April 2016
Murray State University MFA Summer Residency July 2015
Awards, Grants. Fellowships
The Kentucky Arts Council
Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship 2019
Best of the Net (Poetry)
Nominee, nominated by pigeonholes 2018
Rivendell Writers’ Colony
Sustainable Arts Foundation Fellowship 2017
The Kentucky Foundation for Women
Artist Enrichment Grant 2016
Pushcart Press
Nominee; nominated by Contributing Editors 2016
Pushcart Press
Nominee; nominated by Contributing Editors 2013
The Kentucky Arts Council
Emerging Artist Award 2011
Indiana University, Bloomington
The Booth Tarkington Thesis Year Fellowship 2006-7
The Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Creative Writing 2004-6
Indiana University Writers’ Conference
The Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Scholarship 2006
Teaching and Tutoring Experience
First Year Experience Instructor 2017-Present
West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Paducah, KY
Serve as an Appreciative Advisor and course instructor for students enrolled in FYE 105: Achieving Academic Success; assist students in reflection, strengths analysis, academic and career pathways research, guided practice in financial literacy, study skills, and utilization of campus and community resources.
First Year Experience, Transitional Education, English Adjunct Instructor 2007-2017
West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Paducah, KY
Design, and utilize Blackboard to facilitate web-enhanced on-campus courses, hybrid courses, and fully online courses. Teach courses with non-traditional scheduling (night classes, late-start sections, hybrid courses, and summer courses). Track student success and make referrals to support services.
Courses Taught:
ENC 90: Foundations of College Writing I
ENC 91: Foundations of College Writing II
ENG 101 Writing 1: Composition
ENG 102 Writing 2: Composition
ENG 207 Creative Writing: Poetry and Fiction
ENG 252: Survey of American Literature II
FYE: 105 Achieving Academic Success
HUM 120: Introduction to the Humanities
RDG 20: Improved College Reading
RDG 30: Reading for the College Classroom
College Reading and Learning Association Certified Level 2 Tutor 2010-2016
West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Paducah KY
Design Blackboard e-community for CRLA Level 1 training modules and conduct training of newly hired Tutoring Center, TRIO, Math Lab, and Reading/Writing Lab tutors. Assist traditional and nontraditional student writers in all course areas; tutor students regarding reading strategies, study skills, and test anxiety.
Associate Instructor of English 2004-2007
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Courses Taught:
Writing 131: English Composition
Writing 103: Introductory Creative Writing (poetry and fiction)
Writing 203: Intermediate Creative Writing (poetry)
Poetry Workshop Co-Instructor Sept.–Dec. 2006
The John Waldron Arts Center, Bloomington, IN
Writing Tutor for Academic Communities for Excellence Program 2001-2002
University of Calif. at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
Education
Indiana University, Bloomington IN
Master of Science; Literacy, Culture, and Language Education 2013
Indiana University, Bloomington IN
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing; Poetry 2007
University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
Bachelor of Arts in English; graduated with honors 2002
Ventura Community College, Ventura CA
Associate of Arts; English concentration 2000
References
Maurice Manning
Professor of English; Transylvania Writer in Residence
Transylvania University
859-233-8606
Bob Bledsoe
Director, Indiana University Writers’ Conference
Indiana University, Bloomington
812- 855-1877
Romayne Rubinas Dorsey
Creative Writing Pedagogy Director and Senior Lecturer
Indiana University
812-855-4038
Amelia Martens 