Aaron Baker
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Title: | Assistant Professor |
| E-mail: |
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Education:
B.A., Central Washington University (1995); M.F.A., University of Virginia (2001)
Teaching Interests:
Poetry Writing; Contemporary American Poetry
Recent Publications:
“Chimbu Burial,” “Manifest Destiny” and “Rockefeller Center.” Northwest Review
(Fall 2011)
“In Articulo Mortis.” New England Review (Fall 2011)
“Original Curse” and “Rife Machine.” Northwest Review (Spring 2011)
“The Lost Village” and “The New Religion.” Shenandoah (Spring 2010)
Book:
Mission Work (poetry, Houghton Mifflin 2008)
Honors:
Glasgow/Shenandoah Prize for Emerging Writers (2009)
Katherine Bakeless Award for a First Book of Poetry (2008)
Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing, Stanford University (2001-2003)
Henry Hoyns Fellowship in Creative Writing, University of Virginia (1999-2001)
Grants:
Ludwig Vogelstein Literary Fellowship ($2200) for Poetry (2007)
Teaching Philosophy:
As writers, we immerse ourselves in the work of our forebears while remaining alert to our own perceptions and instincts. This is the process whereby each writer begins to discover a unique voice. There is fluidity to a writer’s progress, I believe, which can be facilitated but not fully controlled by a teacher. I stand ready to suggest a student read a new writer or try a new approach, but in the end my students will navigate according to their own inner compasses. As their teacher, I hope to encourage a faith in this exciting but sometimes difficult and complicated process.