About Brenda Shaughnessy

Brenda Shaughnessy is the Okinawan-Irish American author of seven poetry collections, including this year’s Tanya, published by Knopf; 2022’s Liquid Flesh: New and Selected Poems, which came out with Bloodaxe, a U.K. publisher; The Octopus Museum (a New York Times 2019 Notable Book); and Our Andromeda, finalist for the Griffin International Prize, the PEN/Open Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Prize. 2008’s Human Dark with Sugar received the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and was a finalist for an NBCC Award. Fellowships include the Howard Foundation Fellowship of Brown University, the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission Fellowship, and other honors. Recipient of a 2018 Literature Award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and a 2013 fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, she is currently co-creating the production of Sensorium Ex, an opera for which she wrote the libretto. The opera is slated to premiere in New York City in March 2025. She lives in West Orange, New Jersey.

email: brenda at brendashaughnessy.com