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Su Smallen studied advanced mathematics at Gustavus Adolphus College, where she majored in English literature and began modern dance training. Her writing reflects these disciplines’ strategies of equation and abstraction. Her career as a dancer and choreographer included production of her own work, and performances with world-class artists. A sense of the theatrical, and this immersion in movement, breath, and sensation, have particularly influenced Su Smallen’s poetry. Smallen received her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Hamline University, where she was awarded Outstanding Thesis in Poetry, and the W. Quay Grigg Award for Excellence in Literary Study. Smallen received four Pushcart Prize nominations in 2004—one for her book, WEIGHT OF LIGHT (nominated by Contributing Editor, Jim Moore), two for her poems, “Graveyard Below Black Lake” (three candles) and “Hey Degas” (Laurel Poetry Collective), and one for her essay, “On Poetry” (Water~Stone). “On Poetry” also received an Honorable Mention for the Brenda Ueland Prose Prize, selected by Robert Olen Butler. In 2005, Smallen won the Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, selected by Elizabeth Alexander, for her poem, “Yau Yellow.” Smallen is a member of Laurel Poetry Collective, publishers of beautiful books and broadsides. Since 2003, Laurel has published 5 hand-stitched anthologies, 20 single-author books, and 21 letterpress broadsides. Laurel Poetry Collective released Smallen’s WEIGHT OF LIGHT in December 2004. Smallen is an adjunct professor in creative writing at Hamline University in the School of Graduate Liberal Studies and Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at St. Olaf College. She is an associate editor for the Institute of Crime and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota. Smallen also teaches private students.
Lectures about her writing and about Laurel Poetry Collective have been sponsored by the Lilly Foundation, Minnesota Humanities Commission, West Egg Literati, the International Virginia Woolf Society, and Smith College. Su Smallen is available for readings, lectures, master classes, workshops, and corporate presentations. To inquire, please write to her at: susmallen@gmail.com or at: Laurel Poetry Collective 1168 Laurel Avenue St. Paul MN 55104 See Su's Publications link on the left. See LAUREL's link on the right. All material on this web site is copyrighted. Copyright, Su Smallen, 2005 | 
