Background
Beth Fennelly was born on May 22, 1971, in New Jersey, United States. She was raised in Lake Forest, Illinois.
2013
129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS 38655, United States
Beth Ann Fennelly speaks to the audience at Off Square Books in 2013.
2015
Beth Ann Fennelly's family on a walk. From left to right - Tom Franklin, the husband, Anna Claire Franklin - the eldest child, Nolan Franklin - the youngest child, Thomas Franklin - the middle child, and Beth Ann Fennelly herself.
Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States
Beth Ann Fennelly studied at the University of Notre Dame, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude, graduating in 1993.
Fayetteville, AR 72701, United States
Beth Fennelly studied at the University of Arkansas, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 1998.
760 E Westleigh Rd, Lake Forest, IL 60045, United States
Beth Fennelly's educational path started at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, from where she graduated in 1989.
Beth Ann Fennelly gives a speech in front of her readers.
Beth Ann Fennelly's portrait.
(A toddler's mother, both an intimate guide and an affecti...)
A toddler's mother, both an intimate guide and an affectionate coach, writes to a pregnant friend about the transforming experience of motherhood. "These are letters I would have welcomed when I was pregnant," says Beth Ann Fennelly, as she seeks to go beyond the nuts and bolts or sentimentality of other parenting literature. The letters range in tone from serious to sisterly, from light-hearted to downright funny.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393061825/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(A new collection by a poet declared "one of the most exci...)
A new collection by a poet declared "one of the most exciting poets of her generation." With elegant wordplay and her usual subversive wit, Beth Ann Fennelly explores the "unmentionable" - not only what is considered too bold but also what can not be said because words are insufficient. In sections of short narratives, she questions our everyday human foibles. Three longer sequences display her admirable reach and fierce intelligence.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015DTVAQ/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(Open House established Beth Ann Fennelly as "an ambitious...)
Open House established Beth Ann Fennelly as "an ambitious and spacious young talent" and introduced us to her "passion, compassion, inventiveness, and intelligence."
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393336077/?tag=2022091-20
2009
(Set against the backdrop of the historic flooding of the ...)
Set against the backdrop of the historic flooding of the Mississippi River, The Tilted World is an extraordinary tale of murder and moonshine, sandbagging and saboteurs, and a man and a woman who find unexpected love, from Tom Franklin, the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, and award-winning poet Beth Ann Fennelly.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BATEIFS/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(The 52 micro-memoirs in genre-defying Heating & Cooling o...)
The 52 micro-memoirs in genre-defying Heating & Cooling offer bright glimpses into a richly lived life, combining the compression of poetry with the truth-telling of nonfiction into one heartfelt, celebratory book. Alternatingly wistful and wry, ranging from childhood recollections to quirky cultural observations, these micro-memoirs build on one another to shape a life from unexpectedly illuminating moments.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XNK2HFD/?tag=2022091-20
2017
Beth Fennelly was born on May 22, 1971, in New Jersey, United States. She was raised in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Beth Fennelly's educational path started at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, from where she graduated in 1989. Beth Ann Fennelly studied at the University of Notre Dame, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude, graduating in 1993. She also studied at the University of Arkansas, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 1998.
Beth Fennelly found herself as a poet, author, and educator. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1993, Beth taught English in a coal mining village Karviná on the Czech-Polish border from 1993 to 1994. Then, she worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, from 1994 to 1998. Soon Fennelly became a Diane Middlebrook Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, where she was employed from 1998 to 1999. Later she changed the place of work and became an Assistant Professor of English at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, and taught here from 1999 to 2002. In July 2006, Beth was episodically busy with work at the University of Nebraska Low-Residency Program. Meanwhile, from 2002 to 2007 Beth worked at the University of Mississippi as an Assistant Professor. From 2007 to the present, Beth Fennelly works as an Associate Professor, as always - at the English Department, at the University of Mississippi.
Through her writing career, Ann has published six books, and three of them are poetry books - Open House, Tender Hooks, and Unmentionables, all with W. W. Norton. Her poetry was published in over fifty anthologies, including Best American Poetry 1996, 2005, and 2006, The Book of Irish American Poetry from the Eighteenth Century to the Present and many others.
In recent years, Beth Ann’s written more prose. A book of essays, Great With Child: Letters to a Young Mother, was published by Norton in 2006. In 2013, Beth Ann and her husband, Tom Franklin, co-authored a novel, The Tilted World, published by HarperCollins and set during the 1927 flood of the Mississippi River. Her sixth book, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-memoirs, published by W. W. Norton, became a well-received and highly-awarded piece of art. Among the other works, Fennelly's collection Tender Hooks explores the intense, sometimes contradictory emotions, sensations, and physical reactions to first-time motherhood, and is based on the poet's experiences during the birth and early years of her daughter, Claire. Many of the poems in the book were written while Fennelly was teaching at Knox College, and they cover topics such as baby worship, the unexpectedly vigorous physical efforts of a breastfeeding child, grief at an earlier miscarriage, and the feelings of sheer, total love for her daughter.
(Set against the backdrop of the historic flooding of the ...)
2013(The 52 micro-memoirs in genre-defying Heating & Cooling o...)
2017(Open House established Beth Ann Fennelly as "an ambitious...)
2009(A toddler's mother, both an intimate guide and an affecti...)
2006(A new collection by a poet declared "one of the most exci...)
2008
Quotations:
"Motherhood makes you stronger even as it makes you weaker. Your new sensitivity is a strength, and you should see it that way."
"But remember that reading provides nourishment for hungers we might not even be aware of. How often have I chosen a book at random and found in it an answer I didn't realize I was seeking."
Quotes from others about the person
"Fennelly doesn't flinch from showing the darker side of mothering, not just the can't-see-straight exhaustion and the anxiety of new parenthood, but the fury of both infant and mother." - Publishers Weekly.
Beth Fennelly is married to Tom Franklin, and live in Oxford, Mississippi. They have three children - Anna Claire, Thomas, and Nolan.