Elise_Paschen Knowpia

Elise Paschen (born January 1959) is an American poet and member of the Osage Nation. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Poetry in Motion, a program which places poetry posters in subways and buses across the country.

Career and education edit

The daughter of renowned prima ballerina Maria Tallchief^[1] and Chicago contractor Henry D. Paschen, she was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where she attended the Francis W. Parker School. Paschen is a member of the Osage Nation.^[2]^[1]

While an undergraduate at Harvard University, Paschen received the Lloyd McKim Garrison Medal for poetry, and served as Poetry Editor of the Harvard Advocate. At Oxford University, where she received her M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees in 20th Century British and American Literature, she co-founded and co-edited Oxford Poetry.

Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America from 1988 until 2001, she has edited numerous anthologies, including the New York Times bestsellers Poetry Speaks. Her books of poetry include, most recently, The Nightlife, as well as Bestiary, Infidelities, winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, and Houses: Coasts. Her poems have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including The New Yorker, Poetry and The Best American Poetry 2018. Her latest poetry book, Tallchief, was a tribute to her mother and was released in October 2023.^[3] Her poem "Wi’-gi-e" was credited as inspiration for the title of the non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon (2017), which contained her poem and was adapted into the 2023 film of the same name.^[4]

Paschen teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.^[2] She lives in Chicago with her husband, Stuart Brainerd, and their two children.

Awards edit

Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, for Infidelities
Lloyd McKim Garrison Medal for poetry
Joan Grey Untermyer Poetry Prize
Richard Selig Poetry Prize
Frances C. Allen Fellowship

Works edit

Houses: Coasts (Sycamore Press, Oxford, 1985)
Infidelities (Story Line Press, 1996)
Bestiary (Red Hen Press, 2009)^[5]
The Nightlife (Red Hen Press, 2017)^[6]
Tallchief (Magic City Books Press, 2023)^[3]

Anthologies featuring her poems edit

Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writings of North America (1997)
Ravishing DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English (2000)
The POETRY Anthology, 1912—2002 (2002)
A Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary Women (2007)
Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology (University of Georgia Press, 2018)

Editor or co-editor edit

Poetry in Motion (1996)
Poetry Speaks (2001)
Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast (2002)^[7]
Poetry Speaks to Children (2005)^[8]
Poetry Speaks Expanded (2007)^[9]
Poetry Speaks Who I Am (2010)^[10]

Notes edit

^ ^a ^b "The Osage Nation will host Writers Summit." Archived 2013-09-26 at the Wayback Machine Osage Nation. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Elise Paschen". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Shaw Duty, Shannon (November 13, 2023). "Elise Paschen's 'Tallchief' tops Oklahoma Best Sellers List". Osage News. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
^ Hijazi, Jennifer (February 5, 2018). "This Osage writer remembers one of the first victims of infamous 'reign of terror'". PBS. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
^ Red Hen Press
^ "Books - Red Hen Press". Red Hen Press. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
^ "MTA | Poetry In Motion". Archived from the original on 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
^ "Poetry Speaks to Children". Archived from the original on 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
^ Poetry Speaks Expanded^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Poetry Speaks Who I Am". Archived from the original on 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2018-11-19.