Judy Jordan
Encyclopedia
Life
She grew up on a small farm near the Carolina border.Her parents were sharecroppers, and she was picking cotton by the time she was 5. She was the first member of her family to attend college, with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1990, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1995. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree, in fiction from the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, in 2000. She lived in Salt Lake City.
She taught at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Piedmont Virginia Community College
' is an open access community college offering two-year associate's degrees, one-year certificates, continuing education and workforce training. The campus is located in Albemarle County, Virginia, south of Charlottesville...
, and California State University, San Marcos
California State University, San Marcos
California State University San Marcos is a public, coeducational university and one of the 23 general campuses of the California State University system. located in San Marcos, California, a suburban town in north San Diego County. It was founded in 1989 as the 20th CSU campus and was the first...
. She teaches at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
.
She lives off-the-grid
Off-the-grid
The term off-the-grid or off-grid refers to living in a self-sufficient manner without reliance on one or more public utilities....
in a cabin that she built herself in the Shawnee National Forest
Shawnee National Forest
The Shawnee National Forest, located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, consists of approximately 280,000 acres of federally managed lands. In descending order of land area it is located in parts of Pope, Jackson, Union, Hardin, Alexander, Saline, Gallatin, Johnson, and Massac...
, and is working on a non-fiction book about her experiences there.
Her poems have appeared in Raintaxi, Blue Pitcher Review, Crossroads: A Journal of Southern Culture, Lucid Oona, Poetry, Western Humanities Review, and Writer’s Eye.
Awards
- 1999 Walt Whitman Award
- 2000 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....
- 1996 Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry,
Works
Reviews
Judy Jordan's book, Carolina Ghost Woods, is a startling first collection of poems--startling because of the bone-crushing violence and poverty, and startling also because of the beautiful and precise language the poet brings to bear on these scenes, violent or not. She is a poet first and foremost.
Judy Jordan has written a stunning collection in Carolina Ghost Woods, winner of the 1999 Walt Whitman Prize. Graced with an engagement of the senses that is so precise it seems otherworldly, Jordan renders the landscape of her childhood with a stylistic and thematic unity that is rare for a first book of poems.
60 Cent Coffee, Jordan’s second volume of poetry, is a book length poem that chronicles a time in her life when she was homeless, working as a pizza deliveryman at a Greek immigrant-owned restaurant. It marks a radical departure from the rural landscapes of Carolina Ghost Woods, Its daring narrative skillfully weaves together the lives and histories of Jordan, and the experiences of her coworkers, the street walkers and the homeless with whom she shares a common plight. The chorus of voices blends into a haunting melody that records the hopes, dreams and quiet alienation of those living in the underbelly of society.