Richard Siken - Biography

Richard Siken is an American poet. He is the author of a collection of poetry, Crush, which won the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 2004, and is the editor of spork literary magazine. Siken received a Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his book Crush was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for "Gay Men's Poetry" in 2005, and the Thom Gunn Award from The Publisher's Triangle. The 1991 death of his boyfriend influenced his writing of the book.

Siken currently lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a full-time social worker.

Awards

"Crush" won the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, selected by Louise Gluck. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Thom Gunn Award.

Siken is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, two Arizona Commission on the Arts grants, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

External links

• Review of Crush in The New Hampshire Review
• Profile of Richard Siken from "Poetry" magazine
• Richard Siken reads "Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out" for Apostrophe Cast (apostrophecast.com)