The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has selected Dr. Mary Biddinger, professor of English at The University of Akron, as one of 36 poets nationwide to receive a prestigious Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing.
The awards are highly competitive, with Biddinger’s work selected from more than 1,630 eligible manuscripts. The $25,000 fellowships encourage published writers to set aside time for writing, research, travel and career advancement.
Dr. Mary Biddinger
A resident of Akron who has been on the UA faculty since 2005, Biddinger is also assistant chair of the Department of English, a faculty member of the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program (NEOMFA), and editor of the Akron Series in Poetry at The University of Akron Press, where she also founded the Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics. From 2009 to 2012, Biddinger directed NEOMFA, which is the only consortial MFA program in the Midwest
At UA, Biddinger teaches literature and creative writing courses, with a focus on American women writers, contemporary poetry and British fiction. Her course offerings include poetry workshops and craft and theory courses such as Poetry of the Body, First Books of Poetry and Poetry of the Unexpected.
Biddinger is the author of four published collections of poetry and has received two Individual Excellence Awards in Creative Writing from the Ohio Arts Council for her poetry.
The UA English Department offers courses in literature, language, rhetoric, and creative writing. Alumni of the program have gone on to become successful professionals in their chosen fields, ranging from positions in law practices to careers as published authors, technical writers, and journalists. Learn more by visiting the Department of English and Mary Biddinger online.
Media contact: Cyndee Snider 330-972-5196 or cyndee@uakron.edu.