Camille Dungy has authored four collections of poetry: Trophic Cascade (2017), Smith Blue (2011), Suck on the Marrow, and What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison (2006). Her most recent work is a collection of essays called Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History (2017). Dungy edited Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (2009) and co-edited From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great (2009).
Dungy’s many commendations and honors include the Dana Award, the Sustainable Arts Foundation Promise Award, and fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Antiquarian Society, the Virginia Commission, Cave Canem, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, among others. She has twice received the Northern California Book Award, once in 2010 and again in 2011, and is a Silver Medal Winner of the California Book Award. Her books have been shortlisted for the Academy of American Poets William Carlos Williams Award, the Balcones Prize, the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award, the PEN Center USA Literary Award, and the Library of Virginia Literary Award.
Dungy received her B.A. from Stanford University, and went on to complete her MFA at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. After seven years teaching creative writing at San Francisco State she is currently a professor at Colorado State University.
The pages of Trophic Cascade, Dungy’s most recent poetry collection, resonate with glory, violence, compassion, and truth. Harvard Review notes that Trophic Cascade “demonstrates [Dungy’s] mastery of synthesis: fact, observation, and revelation mingle in perfect proportions. Whether she writes about threatened invertebrates, the effects of climate change on penguins, or a family member’s final hours, Dungy’s commitment to accuracy never falters.”
Camille Dungy will give a craft talk titled: “The Writer Is the One Who: Some Practical Thoughts on Practice” on August 1 at 9 a.m. She will also be reading at Merryvale Vineyards on July 30. For information on how to attend, visit our Literary Events page!
