B. H. Fairchild
Encyclopedia
B.H. Fairchild is an award-winning American poet and former college professor. His most recent book is Usher (W.W. Norton, 2009), and his poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker
, The Paris Review
, The Southern Review
, Poetry
, TriQuarterly
, The Hudson Review
, Salmagundi
, The Sewanee Review
. His third poetry collection, The Art of the Lathe, winner of the 1997 Beatrice Hawley Award
(Alice James Books
, 1998), brought Fairchild's work to national prominence, garnering him a large number of awards and fellowships including the William Carlos Williams Award, Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, California Book Award, Natalie Ornish Poetry Award, PEN Center USA West Poetry Award, National Book Award (finalist), Capricorn Poetry Award, and Rockefeller and Guggenheim fellowships. The book ultimately gave him international prominence, as The Way Weiser Press in England published the U.K. edition of the book. The Los Angeles Times wrote that "The Art of the Lathe by B.H. Fairchild has become a contemporary classic—a passionate example of the plain style, so finely crafted and perfectly pitched...workhorse narratives suffused with tenderness and elegiac music."
Fairchild has written that a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
was vital to his career as a poet: "It's very simple: without an NEA Fellowship in 1989-90, I would not have been able to complete my second book, Local Knowledge, nor have had the necessary time to compose the core poems for The Art of the Lathe, my third book, which, I am proud to say, received the Kingsley Tufts Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award, thus bringing my work to a wider audience than the immediate members of my family and also, therefore, making future work possible."
He was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in small towns in the oil fields of Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, later working through high school and college for his father, a lathe machinist. He taught English and Creative Writing at California State University, San Bernardino
and Claremont Graduate University
. He lives in Claremont
, California
with his wife, Patti, and dog, Minnie. As of 2011, it has been announced that Fairchild will teach at The University of North Texas.
Chapbooks
Literary Criticism
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Paris Review
Paris Review
The Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
, The Southern Review
Southern Review
The Southern Review, a literary journal co-founded in 1935 by Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks and located on the campus of Louisiana State University, publishes fiction, poetry, critical essays, interviews, book reviews, and excerpts from novels in progress by established and emerging writers...
, Poetry
Poetry (magazine)
Poetry , published in Chicago, Illinois since 1912, is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Published by the Poetry Foundation and currently edited by Christian Wiman, the magazine has a circulation of 30,000 and prints 300 poems per year out of approximately...
, TriQuarterly
TriQuarterly
TriQuarterly Online is a not-for-profit American literary magazine published twice a year at Northwestern University that features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, literary essays, reviews, a blog, and graphic art....
, The Hudson Review
The Hudson Review
The Hudson Review is a quarterly journal of literature and the arts. It was founded in 1947 in New York by William Ayers Arrowsmith, Joseph Deericks Bennett, and George Frederick Morgan. The first issue was introduced in the spring of 1948...
, Salmagundi
Salmagundi
Salmagundi is a salad dish, originating in the early 17th century in England, comprising cooked meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, leaves, nuts and flowers and dressed with oil, vinegar and spices. There is some debate over the meaning and origin of the word...
, The Sewanee Review
Sewanee Review
The Sewanee Review is a literary journal established in 1892 and the oldest continuously published periodical of its kind in the United States. It incorporates original fiction and poetry, as well as essays, reviews, and literary criticism...
. His third poetry collection, The Art of the Lathe, winner of the 1997 Beatrice Hawley Award
Beatrice Hawley Award
The Beatrice Hawley Award is given annually by Alice James Books. The award includes publication of a book-length poetry manuscript and a cash prize ....
(Alice James Books
Alice James Books
Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.- History and mission :...
, 1998), brought Fairchild's work to national prominence, garnering him a large number of awards and fellowships including the William Carlos Williams Award, Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, California Book Award, Natalie Ornish Poetry Award, PEN Center USA West Poetry Award, National Book Award (finalist), Capricorn Poetry Award, and Rockefeller and Guggenheim fellowships. The book ultimately gave him international prominence, as The Way Weiser Press in England published the U.K. edition of the book. The Los Angeles Times wrote that "The Art of the Lathe by B.H. Fairchild has become a contemporary classic—a passionate example of the plain style, so finely crafted and perfectly pitched...workhorse narratives suffused with tenderness and elegiac music."
Fairchild has written that a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
was vital to his career as a poet: "It's very simple: without an NEA Fellowship in 1989-90, I would not have been able to complete my second book, Local Knowledge, nor have had the necessary time to compose the core poems for The Art of the Lathe, my third book, which, I am proud to say, received the Kingsley Tufts Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award, thus bringing my work to a wider audience than the immediate members of my family and also, therefore, making future work possible."
He was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in small towns in the oil fields of Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, later working through high school and college for his father, a lathe machinist. He taught English and Creative Writing at California State University, San Bernardino
California State University, San Bernardino
California State University, San Bernardino, also known as Cal State San Bernardino or CSUSB is a public research university and one of the twenty three general campuses of the California State University system. The main campus sits on in the suburban University District of , United States, with...
and Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
. He lives in Claremont
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with his wife, Patti, and dog, Minnie. As of 2011, it has been announced that Fairchild will teach at The University of North Texas.
Books
Full-Length Poetry Collections- Usher (W. W. NortonW. W. NortonW. W. Norton & Company is an independent American book publishing company based in New York City. It is well known for its "Norton Anthologies", particularly the Norton Anthology of English Literature and the "Norton Critical Editions" series of texts which are frequently assigned in university...
, 2009) - Local Knowledge (W.W. Norton, 2005, second edition)
- Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest (W.W. Norton, 2003)
- The Arrival of the Future (Alice James Books, 2000, second edition)
- The Art of the Lathe (Alice James BooksAlice James BooksAlice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.- History and mission :...
, 1998) - Local Knowledge (Quarterly Review of Literature, Princeton, NJ, 1991)
- The Arrival of the Future (illustrated by Ross Zirkle, Swallow's Tale Press, 1985, Livingston Publishing, 1985)
Chapbooks
- The System of Which the Body Is One Part (State Street Press, 1988)
- Flight (Devil's Millhopper Press, 1985)
- C & W Machine Works (Trilobite Press, 1983)
Literary Criticism
- Such Holy Song: Music as Idea, Form, and Image in the Poetry of William Blake (Kent State University Press, 1980)
Honors and awards
- 2011 Pushcart Prize in the Essay for "Logophilia"
- 2010 Best of the Net Award for "The Student Assistant"
- 2009 Pushcart Prize in Poetry for "Frieda Pushnik"
- 2007 University of Kansas Distinguished Achievement Award
- 2005 Lannan Foundation Residency in Marfa, Texas
- 2005 Gold Medal in Poetry, California Book Awards
- 2005 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American PoetryAiken Taylor Award for Modern American PoetryThe Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry is an annual prize, administered by the Sewanee Review and the University of the South, awarded to a writer who has had a substantial and distinguished career. It was established through a bequest by Dr. K.P.A...
- 2005 National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
- Literature Fellowship in Poetry - 2004 Bobbitt National Prize for PoetryBobbitt National Prize for PoetryThe Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry is awarded biennially by the Library of Congress on behalf of the nation in recognition for the most distinguished book of poetry written by an American and published during the preceding two years....
- 2002 Arthur Rense Poetry Prize, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2002 National Book Critics Circle AwardNational Book Critics Circle AwardThe National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
, for Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest - 2001 The Frost PlaceThe Frost PlaceThe Frost Place is a museum and nonprofit educational center for poetry located at Robert Frost's former home in Franconia, New Hampshire, USA....
poet in residence - 2000 Rockefeller Fellowship
- 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1999 William Carlos Williams AwardWilliam Carlos Williams AwardThe William Carlos Williams Award is given out by the Poetry Society of America for a poetry book published by a small press, non-profit, or university press....
- 1999 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
- 1999 California Book Award
- 1999 Natalie Ornish Poetry Award
- 1999 PEN Center USA West Poetry Award
- 1998 Finalist, National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
- 1997 Beatrice Hawley AwardBeatrice Hawley AwardThe Beatrice Hawley Award is given annually by Alice James Books. The award includes publication of a book-length poetry manuscript and a cash prize ....
- 1996 Capricorn Poetry Award
- 1988 National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
- Literature Fellowship in Poetry
- Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers Conference
- National Writers’ Union First Prize
- AWP Anniversary Award
External links
- Audio Reading: B. H. Fairchild reads "The Gray man" from Usher for Poems Out Loud
- Audio Reading: The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor > Poems by B.H. Fairchild
- Interview: Poems Out Loud > April 7, 2009 > B. H. Fairchild on Usher, Beauty, and Craft
- Review: The Los Angeles Times > July 19, 2009 > A Review by David L. Ulin of Usher: Poems by B.H. Fairchild
- Review: Contemporary Poetry Review > The Plains Pastoral of B.H. Fairchild (a retrospective review of Fairchild's work), by Christopher Bakken
- Poem: Baseball Almanac > For Junior Gilliam, by B.H. Fairchild
- Poem: Mystic River Review > Motion Sickness by B.H. Fairchild
- Poems: Image > Issue 35, Summer 2002 > The Problem and The Deposition by B.H. Fairchild
- Author Page: B.H. Fairchild > W.W. Norton
- Author Page & Poems: Two Photographs and Old Men Playing Basketball by B.H. Fairchild
- Author Page: B.H. Fairchild > Alice James Books
- Poetry.LA video of B.H. Fairchild reading from Usher at Valley Contemporary Poets, Tarzana CA, 01/2010