Background
Peggy Shumaker was born on March 22, 1952, in La Mesa, California, United States. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
Peggy Shumaker earned her Bachelor of Arts in English in 1974 and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 1979 from the University of Arizona.
Joe Usibelli (left) and Peggy Shumaker (right).
Peggy Shumaker was born on March 22, 1952, in La Mesa, California, United States. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
Peggy Shumaker earned her Bachelor of Arts in English in 1974 and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 1979 from the University of Arizona.
Peggy Shumaker was graduate assistant instructoк at the University of Arizona, Tucson during 1976-1979. She was writer in residence for the Arizona Commission on the Arts from 1979 to 1985, working with prison inmates, honors students, gang members, deaf adults, teen parents, little kids, library patrons, and elderly folks. She has given readings in art galleries, a governor's mansion, a clearing in the woods, an abandoned bank, on reservations, in libraries, at a gold dredge, under the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon, on a riverboat, and at many bookstores, community centers, and universities.
Shumaker later worked as a faculty associate in creative writing at Arizona State University from 1983 to 1985. In 1985-1986 she served as a visiting assistant professor in creative writing at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Further she became director of creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia during 1986-1988.
Peggy Shumaker also worked at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, as co-director of creative writing since 1988, then - as head of department of English in 1991-1993, later - as an associate professor in 1991-1993, and became professor since 1993.
Currently, Shumaker teaches in the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). She serves on the Advisory Board for Storyknife, and on the board of the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation.
In addition, Peggy's poems have been published in Russia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, and throughout the United States. Her nonfiction has appeared in "Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction" (Norton), "A Road of Her Own" (Fulcrum), "Under Northern Lights" (U. Washington Press), "A Year in Place" (U. Utah Press), "Prairie Schooner", "Brevity", and "Ascent".
In 2008, Peggy founded Boreal Books, an imprint of Red Hen Press, to publish literature and fine art from Alaska and works as its editor. Since spring 2012, Shumaker is also an editor of the Alaska Literary Series at University of Alaska Press, poetry editor of "Persimmon Tree", and contributing editor for "Alaska Quarterly Review".
Moreover, she has served as poet-in residence at the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell and as the president of the board of directors of AWP. Professor emerita from University of Alaska Fairbanks, Shumaker teaches in the low-residency MFA Rainier Writing Workshop and at many writing conferences and festivals.
Quotations: "I want to read the poems, essays and stories that only you can write. I want to pay close attention to your words, your images, your lines and sentences so that we can narrow the gap between what you imagine and what’s on the page. Together we’ll come up with reading lists to support and challenge you. You’re about to devote several years to honing your craft, to reading as a writer, to finding ways to make room for writing in your life. We’re in this together, as writers and as readers. Writing well is an act of generosity. Writing well allows us to add our steps to a dance that began long before we were born and that will continue long after we’re dust. Across cultures, across centuries, writing lets us in on the inside stories, the stories that make us most human."
Peggy Shumaker has been a member of Western Literature Presenting Network since 1994. She has also been a member of board of directors of the Associated Writing Programs since 1990, later became its vice president during 1991-1992, president in 1992-1993, and board adviser from 1993 to 1994.
Peggy Shumaker is married to Joseph Usibelli.