Poet awarded creative writing fellowship
March 4, 2015
907-474-6464
3-5-2015
Sean Hill, visiting assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has been awarded $25,000 by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The NEA Creative Writing Fellowship allows published writers such as Hill to spend more time writing and researching outside the classroom.
"My poetry explores history, among other things, and this fellowship means that I’ll be able to afford to take research trips to archives and historical sites," Hill said. "The hope is that the writing and ultimately book or books that result from this activity will prove to be useful in the world.”
Hill, a faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts English Department, teaches world literature, academic writing about literature, poetry, topics in creative writing, undergraduate writers’ workshop and graduate level classes in creative writing.
“Sean likes to leave poetry around the department, in our mailboxes, tucked underneath our office doors," said Sarah Stanley, assistant professor and director of university writing. "He is a steward of poetry in CLA and the community. Poetry to the People — that's Sean Hill.”
Hill has published two books of poetry, "Blood Ties & Brown Liquor" and "Dangerous Goods." Both are available at the Rasmuson Library or online at www.seanhillpoetry.com. Hill received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Georgia and the University of Houston.
“It’s truly an honor to have my poetry recognized and supported by the NEA," Hill said. "And the excitement of my colleagues and students over this announcement has been heartening. William Carlos Williams famously wrote, 'It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die every day / for lack / of what is found there.' I believe what is found there is a promotion of empathy. Poetry and all literature fosters empathy because it asks the reader to relate to the poem’s speaker and enter the world of the poem.”
More than 1,600 poetry manuscripts were considered for the highly competitive NEA award. CLA Dean Todd Sherman said Hill's selection “is significant recognition of a very talented artist teaching for our own English program. It is well deserved and is national evidence of the quality professors we have here in the College of Liberal Arts. Congratulations to Sean and our English department. Well done.”
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