About Brenda Shaughnessy

Brenda Shaughnessy is the Okinawan-Irish American author of seven poetry collections, including Tanya (Knopf 2023, Bloodaxe 2024, UK); Liquid Flesh: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe 2022, UK); The Octopus Museum (Knopf 2019), a New York Times Notable Book; and Our Andromeda (Copper Canyon 2012), finalist for the Griffin International Prize, the PEN/Open Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Prize. Human Dark with Sugar (Copper Canyon 2008) received the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and was a finalist for the NBCC award. She has received the Howard Foundation Fellowship of Brown University, the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission Fellowship, a 2013 fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, a 2018 Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and other honors. Currently, Shaughnessy is co-creating the production of Sensorium Ex, an opera for which she wrote the libretto, which will premiere in 2025. She lives in West Orange, New Jersey.

email: brenda at brendashaughnessy.com