Jeanie Thompson

Poet

Montgomery, AL
Alabama US

Author's Bio

Award-winning poet, educator, and arts advocate, Jeanie Thompson has published five collections of poetry, The Myth of Water: Poems from the Life of Helen Keller, The Seasons Bear Us, White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems, Witness, which won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publishers Marketing Association and How to Enter the River. Her work has appeared in Antaeus, Crazyhorse, Ironwood, North American Review, New England Review, Southern Review, and others. She has received fellowships from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. She is director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum and is a poetry faculty member of the Spalding University low-res MFA Writing Program. Jeanie holds the MFA from the University of Alabama where she was founding editor of Black Warrior Review literary journal. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Stone River Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems (Negative Capability Press, 2015)
,
Thirty Three (Negative Capability Press, 2014)
,
All Out of Faith: Southern Women and Spirituality (University of Alabama Press, 2006)
,
High Horse (Louisville Review, 2005)
Books:
The Myth of Water, Poems from the life of Helen Keller (University of Alabama Press, 2016)
,
The Seasons Bear Us (River City Publishing, 2009)
,
White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems (River City Publishing, 2001)
,
Witness (Black Belt Press, 1995)
,
How to Enter the River (Holy Cow! Press, 1985)
Prizes won: 

Alabama State Council on the Arts Artist Fellowship in Literature, 2011 and 1999. Louisiana Council on the Arts, Artist Fellowship in Literature, 1986.

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
Dime Store by Lee Smith, Sunrise Becomes the World: Poems by Louie Skipper, Orient Express by Graham Greene, American Happiness: Poems by Jacqueline Allen Trimble

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Anniston, AL
Alabama
Raised in: 
Decatur, IL
Illinois
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jul 19, 2024