Pattiann Rogers (born 1940) is an American poet, and a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. In 2018, she was awarded a special John Burroughs Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry.
Life Pattiann Rogers is an American poet who lives in Colorado with her husband and has two sons and three grandsons. She was born in Joplin, Missouri, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri in 1961. She received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Houston in 1981. She taught as a visiting writer at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Montana, and at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2002, she was the Ferrol Sams Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Mercer University and was on the faculty of the low residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Pacific University. She was associate professor, and taught in the MFA Creative Writing Program during the spring semesters, 1993 to 1997, at the University of Arkansas.
In May 2000, she was in residency at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy. She is a contributing editor at The Alaska Quarterly Review.
Ms. Rogers is the mother of renowned materials scientist Professor John A. Rogers, currently at Northwestern University.
Grants, Fellowships, and Awards Firekeeper was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books Published in 1994, was one of five finalists for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize (given by the Academy of American Poets) in 1994, and received the Natalie Ornish Poetry Award from the Texas Institute of Letters. Song of the World Becoming (Milkweed Editions, 2001) contains all of Rogers' poems previously published in her books through 2001, 40 new poems, and line and title indexes. It was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was named an Editor's Choice, Top of the List by Booklist.
In 2018, Rogers received a special John Burroughs Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry. She has received two NEA Grants, 1982 and 1988, a Guggenheim Fellowship for 1984–85, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship in 1991 and a Lannan Literary Awards for Poetry in 2005.
Her poems were selected for publication in Best Spiritual Writing for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2010 editions. Her poetry appeared in The Best American Poetry of 1996 selected by Adrienne Rich, and The Best American Poetry of 2009, selected by David Wagoner. She received five Pushcart Prizes Best of the Small Presses 1984, 1985, 1989, 1992 and 1999 editions. Two Prairie Schooner Strousse Awards were won in 1993 and 1996. The Theodore Roethke Prize from Poetry Northwest was awarded in 1981. Poetry awarded her poems the Tietjens Prize in 1981, the Hokin Prize in 1982, and the Bock Prize in 1998.
She was the 1987 poet in residence at The Frost Place in Franconia, NH. She was a judge for the National Poetry Series in 1999 and 2004, and co-poetry editor with Carl Phillips for the 2003 Pushcart Prize XXVII, Best of the Small Presses. She was in residency at the Rockefeller's International Conference and Study Center in Bellagio, Italy, May, 2000.
Books
, a collaboration with the artist Joellyn Duesberry
Public poetry projects The Language of Conservation, the Milwaukee Zoo's permanent exhibit of 54 signs containing lines of poetry installed throughout the zoo opened on June 19, 2010. Pattiann Rogers was the Zoo's honorary poet and curator for the exhibit, which was produced in collaboration with the Milwaukee Public Library, the Zoological Society of Milwaukee , along with the Milwaukee County Zoo. Pattiann Rogers on the project: I wanted the poems to offer a new perspective, a different way of looking at landscapes and animals. A story on The Language of Conservation in the June 2010 issue of Wild Things , the Zoological Society's Newsletter. A Terrain.org article about the project written by Pattiann Rogers: Under The Open Sky: Poems On The Land. A map of the poetry installations at the zoo. Address to the Zoo: 10001 West Bluemound Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226-4383 The Language of Conservation, Poetry in Library and Zoo Collaborations, Jane Preston, Editor; Sandra Alcosser, Lee Briccetti, Dr. John Fraser, Dr. Dan Wharton, Executive Editors; Poets House, New York City, NY, 2013. (This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.) www.poetshouse.org
Rogers worked with sculptor Steve Wood of Public Art Associates to create this bench along the American Discovery Trail in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, at the base of Pikes Peak. It is a 4' x 15' concrete, stone and ceramic tile bench meant to withstand the elements for many years. The poems by Pattiann Rogers are on the tile pieces interspersed around the bench meant to be read at various angles of an oncoming potential reader.
Finding Poems Under the Open Sky, presents photographs and text on five different poetry trails installed in five different locations in the U.S.. One of the five sections (text by Pattiann Rogers) describes the goals and installations of the Milwaukee County Zoo signs and photographs. The four other sections contain descriptions and goals written by those who installed each trail. World Literature Today, January–February, 2013, Volume 87, Number 1, Editor Daniel Simon, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
Sowell Collection The Sowell Collection at Texas Tech University acquired the unique papers of Pattiann Rogers and have made them available for public viewing. Pattiann Rogers' papers at The Sowell Collection - Overview and Table of Contents. Search papers from 1960 through 2010. Category archives in the Sowell Collection blog for Pattiann Rogers About The Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World
Interviews and essays (a partial listing) Jellema, Rod, Pattiann Rogers: Two Readings of her Poems, essay by Rod Jellema, Innisfree Poetry Journal, www.innisfreepoetry.org, Innisfree 28, 2018
Kelley, Tina, Naming the Natural World, Pattiann Rogers on her 13th collection and celebrating science in poetry, Poetry Foundation, June 21, 2017
Brachman, Jo, "Cosmology's Celebration: An Interview with Pattiann Rogers", Terminus Magazine, Issue 13, 2016, published by School of Literature, Media and Communication and Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen Colleges
Rogers, Pattiann, Finding Poems Under the Open Sky, World Literature Today, January–February, 2013, Volume 87, Number 1
Johnston, Gorden, Breaking Old Forms: A Conversation with Gordon Johnston , Georgia Review - This interview also appears in its entirety in by Pattiann Rogers)
Doyle, Brian, Poems that Possess Me like New Music in the Blood: An Interview with Pattiann Rogers, Image, a Journal of the Arts and Religion, Center for Religious Humanism, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle WA. - This interview also appears in its entirety in by Pattiann Rogers)
Perry, Carolyn and Zade, Wayne, A Conversation with Pattiann Rogers, The Missouri Review, Volume 32, Number 4, Winter 2009
Gailey Jeannine Hall, An Interview with Poet, Pattiann Rogers, Poets & Writers, June 30, 2008
Josephine Pallos, Coming into Being: An Interview with Pattiann Rogers, The Gettysburg Review, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, Vol. 15, Number 1, Spring, 2002
Elliott, David, Praise is a Generative Act,' A Conversation with Pattiann Rogers, Tampa Review, Spring, 1999
Seyburn, Patty, "Interview with Pattiann Rogers," Gulf Coast, U. of Houston, Houston, TX, Spring, 1997
Walker, Casey, "Pattiann Rogers, an Interview and Poetry," Wild Duck Review, April, 1997
Whitehouse, Shelia, "An Interview with Pattiann Rogers," South Carolina Review, Fall, 1992
Seale, Jan Epton, “Interview with Pattiann Rogers,” Concho River Review, Spring, 1991
Bryan, Sharon, "Interview: Pattiann Rogers," River City Review, Spring, 1990
McCann, Richard, "An Interview with Richard McCann", Iowa Review Volume 17, no 2, Spring/Summer 1987 - This interview also appears in its entirety in by Pattiann Rogers)
Reviews of published work (a partial listing) Reviews of Quickening Fields, published 2017 McDonnell, Anne Haven, "Anne Haven McDonnell reviews Quickening Fields, poems by Pattiann Rogers", March 2, 2019 Felsenthal, Alan, "Eight Poets Recommended New and Recent Titles", November 7, 2017 Kelley, Tina, "On Quickening Fields by Pattiann Rogers", Georgia Review, 2018
Reviews of Holy Heathen Rhapsody, 2013 Held, Denis, "Review: The Visioin of the Seer, February 13, 2014 Nash, Susan Smith, World Literature Today, May-August, 2014 Williams, Lisa, Orion, Nature/Culture, January/February, 2014
Reviews of Wayfare, published 2008 Kutchins, Laurie, Orion, Nature/Culture, November/December, 2008 Gailey, Jeannine Hall, Wayfare, Penguin Books, 2008 Publishers Weekly, 2007 Prairie Schooner, 2006
Review of Firekeeper, Selected Poems, Revised and Expanded Edition, published 2005 Brachman, Jo, All There Is----Pattiann Rogers' Firekeeper: New and Selected Poems, Terminus Magazine, Issue 13, 2016, published by School of Literature, Media and Communication and Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College Tracy, D.H, Poetry, May, 2006
Review of Generations, published 2003 Marek, Jayne E., "Three Ways to Touch the World", Notre Dame Review, 2004
Reviews of Song of the World Becoming, New and Collected Poems, 1981 - 2001, published 2001 (partial) Buttel, Robert, "Naming the Soul", American Book Review, May–June, 2002 Moos, Kate, "Unwinding Sunlight", Ruminator Review, “Unwinding Sunlight", Spring, 2002 Berger, Rose Marie, "Worth Nothing", Sojourners, Worth Nothing, September–October, 2001 Gonzalez, Ray, The Bloomsbury Review, Poetry Reviews, by Ray Gonzalez, March – April, 2001 Ingham, Ken, Audubon Naturalist News, Book Reviews, July – August, 2001 Spirituality and Health, May, 2001 Seaman, Donna, Booklist, (starred review), March 14, 2001 Whited, Stephen, Book, Poetry Review, July – August, 2001
Reviews of Firekeeper, New and Selected Poems, published 1994 Brown-Davidson,Terri, Review, Prairie Schooner, Fall, 1996 Ullman, Leslie, "Short Reviews,” Poetry, December, 1996 Bloomsbury Review, "Recent Recommended Poetry," January–February, 1995 Budin, Sue E., Kliatt, January, 1995 Carlisle, Susan, Harvard Review, No. 8, May, 1995 Collins, Floyd, "Motives for Metaphor," The Gettysburg Review, Spring, 1995 Edwards, Wayne, Small Press Review, April, 1995 Kitchen, Judith, "Fourteen Ways of Looking at Selecteds," The Georgia Review, Summer, 1995 Eckman, Fred, “Entertainment, Books,” Star Tribune, October 23, 1994 Ellis, Steven, Library Journal, August, 1994 Gunderson, Elizabeth, Booklist, September 1, 1994 Merrill, Christopher, Book Reviews, Orion, Fall, 1994 Publishers Weekly, August 29, 1994
Reviews of Splitting and Binding, published 1989 Goding, Cecile, "Unpretty Sentences, Beautiful Structure," Illinois Writers Review, Spring, 1992 Collins, Floyd, "Variations on the Journey Motif," The Gettysburg Review, Spring, 1991 Porterfield, Kay Marie, "Giving Voice to Vision," Bloomsbury Review, June, 1991 Grosholz, Emily, "Reviews," The Hudson Review, June, 1990 Guereschi, Edward, "Bridesmaids and Veterans," American Book Review, Nov-Dec, 1990 Mazur, Gail, "Brief Reviews," Poetry, Volume CLVI, No. 4, July, 1990 Publishers Weekly, August 4, 1989
Reviews of Legendary Performance, published 1987 Sampson, Dennis, The Hudson Review, Summer, 1988 Stitt, Peter, "Aestheticians and the Pit of the Self," Poetry, Volume CLII, No. 3, June, 1988
Reviews of The Tattooed Lady in the Garden, published 1986 Bizzaro, Patrick, "Poetry and Audience: A Look at Ten Books," Raccoon 28, May, 1988 Fulton, Alice, "Main Things," Poetry, Volume CLI, No. 4, January, 1988 Merrill, Christopher, "Voyages into the Immediate: Recent Nature Writings," New England Review/Breadloaf Quarterly, Volume X, No. 3, Spring, 1988