Kevin Prufer

Background

Kevin Prufer was born on October 22, 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He is a son of Olaf Prufer, a professor of archaeology, and Cynthia Prufer, a clinical psychologist.

Education

In 1988 Kevin Prufer graduated from Western Reserve Academy. In 1992 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University. In 1994 Prufer obtained a Master of Arts degree from Hollins University. In 1996 he gained a Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington University, St. Louis.

Career

In 1996 Kevin Prufer was appointed an associate professor of English at Central Missouri State University (now University of Central Missouri). He is currently professor of English in the creative writing program at the University of Houston and editor-at-large of Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing, an associate editor of American Book Review, a co-curator of the Unsung Masters Series.

He is the author of several poetry collections, including How He Loved Them (2018), Churches (2014), and Strange Wood (1998). He has also edited several volumes of poetry, including Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries (2017) with Martha Collins.

Achievements

• Kevin Prufer is best known as the author of books of poetry and the editor of numerous anthologies. Among Prufer's awards and honors are four Pushcart prizes and multiple Best American Poetry selections, numerous awards from the Poetry Society of America, the Prairie Schooner/Strousse Award, two William Rockhill Nelson awards, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lannan Foundation.
  
  His How He Loved Them book was long listed for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the Julie Suk Award for best poetry book from the American literary press.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century

    (Bringing together a wide range of perspectives - industry...)

    2016
  • Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master

    (For over sixty years, poet, composer, dramatist, editor, ...)

    2013
  • Dunstan Thompson: On the Life and Work of a Lost American Master

    (In the 1940s, Dunstan Thompson, a gay WWII veteran, was a...)

    2010
  • How He Loved Them

    (Kevin Prufer’s How He Loved Them sets love in a fraught, ...)

    2018
  • Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries

    (Into English allows readers an extraordinary opportunity ...)

    2017
  • Dark Horses: Poets on Overlooked Poems

    (Seventy-five established American poets including Billy C...)

    2007
  • Churches

    (Churches explores the way our experience of the world is ...)

    2014
  • Catherine Breese Davis: On the Life & Work of an American Master

    (Catherine Breese Davis fills an important but unsung nich...)

    2015
  • Strange Wood

    (Strange Wood contains verse remarkable for its fearless i...)

    1998
  • The New Young American Poets: An Anthology

    (Poetry today holds mainstream attention as never before. ...)

    2000
  • The Finger Bone

    (A collection of poetry by Kevin Prufer.)

    2002
  • Fallen from a Chariot

    (A collection of poems by Kevin Prufer.)

    2005
  • National Anthem

    (A collection of poems by Kevin Prufer.)

    2008
  • In a Beautiful Country

    (A collection of poems by Kevin Prufer.)

    2011
  • Until Everything Is Continuous Again: American Poets on the Recent Work of W. S. Merwin

    (W. S. Merwin is a defining writer for our age, a poet who...)

    2012

Religion

Kevin Prufer is not a religious person.

Politics

Kevin Prufer doesn't support any political party.

Interests

• history

Connections

Kevin Kevin is married to artist and literary critic Mary Hallab.

Father:

Olaf Prufer

Mother:

Cynthia Prufer

Spouse:

Mary Hallab

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2000
• The official website of Kevin Prufer