Susan Deer Cloud
Encyclopedia
Susan Deer Cloud is a Métis
poet
and fiction
writer of Blackfoot
, Mohawk
and Seneca
heritage.
, and grew up in the Catskills. She received her B.A. in General Literature and Creative Writing (summa cum laude) and her M.A. in English Literature
and Creative Writing
from Binghamton University
. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.
. She has taught Creative Writing at her alma mater, ranging from introductory poetry and fiction courses to upper level poetry courses.
Deer Cloud has had poems, fiction, and non-fiction appear in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The Florida Review, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Many Mountains Moving, Yellow Medicine Review, Sentence', Exquisite Corpse, Rosebud, Identity Theory, Mid-American Review, Prairie Schooner, North Dakota Quarterly, Paterson Literary Review, Earth’s Daughters, Shenandoah, Ms., Pembroke Magazine, Quarterly West, To Topos, Chiron Review, Croton Review and The Greensboro Review. Her poems and stories have appeared in several anthologies, among them the multicultural anthologies Unsettling America and Identity Lessons and Native anthologies A Nation Within and Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community. She has received Prairie Schooner’s Readers’ Choice Award and has twice been given First Prize in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Competition.
She has done a guest editorship at Sojourner: The Women’s Forum. She coordinated readings with a group of poets called Binghamton’s Underground Poets, Wild Indians & Exuberant Others, Unc. (Unincorporated), and edited an anthology to accompany Underground readings she hosted in the city of Binghamton. She edited the Spring 2008 Issue of Yellow Medicine Review, a Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art & Thought, and is currently an adviser to YMR. She is editing the Re-Matriation Series of Indigenous Poetry for FootHills Publishing.
Deer Cloud is the recipient of two New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowships, a Chenango County Council for the Arts Grant, and a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship in Literature (Poetry). It should be noted that previously she had work published under her former married name of Susan Clements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paterson’s Poetry Center’s International Poetry Competition, 1989.
Métis
A Métis is a person born to parents who belong to different groups defined by visible physical differences, regarded as racial, or the descendant of such persons. The term is of French origin, and also is a cognate of mestizo in Spanish, mestiço in Portuguese, and mestee in English...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
writer of Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
, Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
and Seneca
Seneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
heritage.
Biography
Deer Cloud was born to Joseph R. Hauptfleisch and Dorothea Mae Lare in Livingston Manor, New YorkLivingston Manor, New York
Livingston Manor is a hamlet in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 1,355 at the 2000 census.Livingston Manor is in the south part of the Town of Rockland, adjacent to New York State Route 17.-History:...
, and grew up in the Catskills. She received her B.A. in General Literature and Creative Writing (summa cum laude) and her M.A. in English Literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
from Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.
Work and achievements
Deer Cloud currently resides on her mountainMountain
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. She has taught Creative Writing at her alma mater, ranging from introductory poetry and fiction courses to upper level poetry courses.
Deer Cloud has had poems, fiction, and non-fiction appear in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The Florida Review, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Many Mountains Moving, Yellow Medicine Review, Sentence', Exquisite Corpse, Rosebud, Identity Theory, Mid-American Review, Prairie Schooner, North Dakota Quarterly, Paterson Literary Review, Earth’s Daughters, Shenandoah, Ms., Pembroke Magazine, Quarterly West, To Topos, Chiron Review, Croton Review and The Greensboro Review. Her poems and stories have appeared in several anthologies, among them the multicultural anthologies Unsettling America and Identity Lessons and Native anthologies A Nation Within and Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community. She has received Prairie Schooner’s Readers’ Choice Award and has twice been given First Prize in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Competition.
She has done a guest editorship at Sojourner: The Women’s Forum. She coordinated readings with a group of poets called Binghamton’s Underground Poets, Wild Indians & Exuberant Others, Unc. (Unincorporated), and edited an anthology to accompany Underground readings she hosted in the city of Binghamton. She edited the Spring 2008 Issue of Yellow Medicine Review, a Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art & Thought, and is currently an adviser to YMR. She is editing the Re-Matriation Series of Indigenous Poetry for FootHills Publishing.
Deer Cloud is the recipient of two New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowships, a Chenango County Council for the Arts Grant, and a 2007 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...
Fellowship in Literature (Poetry). It should be noted that previously she had work published under her former married name of Susan Clements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Braiding Starlight. Split Oak Press, 2010.
- I WAS INDIAN (Before Being Indian Was Cool): an Anthology of Indigenous Poetry, edited by Susan Deer Cloud. FootHills Publishing, 2009.
- Car Stealer. FootHills Publishing, 2009.
- The Last Ceremony. Foothills Press, 2007.
- Confluence. Anthology, edited by Deer Cloud. Foothills Press. 2006.
- In The Moon When The Deer Lose Their Horns. Chantry Press, Midland, NJ. 1993.
- The Broken Hoop. Blue Cloud Press, Marvin, SD. 1988.
Fellowships and Honors
- New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, 2011.
- Reader and panelist at International Writers Conference at University of North Dakota, Grand Rapids, March 2011.
- Had a poetry reading panel at Associated Writing Programs (AWP) in Washington, DC, in February 2011. Also gave 3 readings, including at the Indian Museum for The Florida Reviews Fall 2010 Native Issue.
- On two panels at Associated Writing Programs Conference in Denver, April 2010.
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, 2007.
- Wordcraft Circle Editor's Award for editing multicultural anthology Confluence, 2008.
- Scholarship to The Resilience of the HUMAN SPIRIT, an International Gathering of Poets, September 16–17, 2006.
- Chenango County Council for the Arts Individual Artists Grant. 2005.
- Poems “Car Stealer” and "O Holy Nights in Liberty, NY." Finalist & Semi-Finalist in Many Mountains Moving Poetry Competition. "Car Stealer," Many Mountains Moving, 2009.
- “When the Puerto Ricans Came to Town.” Honorable Mention, 2005, Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
- “The Dirt in the Gallery across from the Old Whorehouse on Court Street.” Honorable Mention, 2004 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
- Featured Poet. EARTH TONES, 2003.
- Paterson Literary Review. “China Cup,” Editor’s Choice.
- Prairie Schooner’s Readers’ Choice Award. 2003.
- Poetry Panelist for The New York State Foundation for the Arts, 2003.
- “What Is It About Windblown Things?” Honorable Mention, 2002 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
- Poem “Cobalt Blue.” Honorable Mention, 2000 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
- Poem “You Really Have.” 3rd Prize, 1999 Chiron ReviewChiron ReviewChiron Review is a literary journal based in St. John, Kansas. It was founded as The Kindred Spirit in February 1982, by Michael Hathaway shortly after graduating high school and taking a job as typesetter at a local daily newspaper. In March, 1989, the title was changed to Chiron Review.Jane...
Poetry Contest. - Poem “Vincent Van Gogh Writes to Madame Calment from the Stars.” 2nd Prize, 1999 Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Competition.
- Poem “Tree.” 1st Prize, 1998 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
- Fiction Finalist, Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, 1996.
- Certificate of Achievement for making “a significant contribution to advancing the awareness of women of color,” Binghamton UniversityBinghamton UniversityBinghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
, 1995. - Poem “Verticals.” Honorable Mention, 1995 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
- Poem “Potato.” Finalist in 1993 Eve of St. Agnes Competition.
- New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, 1993.
- Poems “Tribute” & “The Waiting Room.” Honorable Mentions in Paterson’s
- Poetry Center’s International Poetry Competition, 1991.
- Poem “Indian Interlude, Naples, Florida.” Honorable Mention, New Letters
- Poetry Competition, 1990.
- Poem “Susans.” Honorable Mention, Paterson’s Poetry Center’s International Poetry Competition. 1990.
- Poem “Singularities.” 1st Prize. “The Reservation” & “Matinee,” Honorable Mentions.
Paterson’s Poetry Center’s International Poetry Competition, 1989.
- Poem “After Chernobyl.” Nominated for Pushcart Prize by Lips, 1989.
- Resident Fellow, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Spring 1987.
- Poem “Mummy Cat in the British Museum.” Finalist, Artemis Poetry Contest, 1987.
- Poem “Snow Country” nominated for Pushcart Prize by Footwork, 1987.
- Story “Black Fire.” Honorable Mention, New Letters Literary Awards, 1986.
- First runner-up in Stand Magazine’s International Short Story Competition, 1985.
- First runner-up in Nimrod’s Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction Competition, 1984.
- Story “Tyrone Power’s Shoes.” Honorable Mention, Writer’s Digest Magazine Short Short Story Competition, 1986.
- Poem “Penance.” Finalist 1985 Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Competition. Judged by Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
. - Story “Roads Not Taken.” First Prize in Almanac ’84 Short Story Contest.
- Story “The Bedmaker.” Finalist in AWP’s Short Short Fiction Competition, 1983.