Carl Phillips (born 1959) is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis.[1]

Carl Phillips
Born	July 23, 1959
Language	English
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University; University of Massachusetts Amherst; Boston University
Notable awards	The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards, Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Partner	Reston Allen (2013–present), Doug Macomber (1992–2007)

Early life

Phillips was born in Everett, Washington. He was born a child of a military family, moving year-by-year until finally settling in his high-school years on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Boston University, Phillips taught high-school Latin for eight years.

Works

His first collection of poems, In the Blood, won the 1992 Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize, and his second book, Cortège, was nominated for a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award. His Pastoral won the 2001 Lambda Literary Award for Best Poetry.[2] Phillips' work has been published in the Yale Review, Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker and the Paris Review. He was named a Witter Bynner Fellowshipin 1998 and in 2006, he was named the recipient of the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets, given in memory of James Merrill.

In 2002, Phillips received the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for The Tether.[3] In 2004, he published All It Takes. He won the Thom Gunn Award in 2005 for The Rest of Love.

His poems, which include themes of spirituality, sexuality, mortality, and faith,[1] are featured in American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006) and many other anthologies.

In 2015, Phillips released his 13th collection of poems, Reconnaissance, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Best Poetry and appeared on the Top Books list from Canada's The Globe and Mail. Phillips was also a featured poet in the "Picture and a Poem" series for T: The New York Times Style Magazine in December 2015. Reconnaissance won the Lambda Literary Award[4] and the PEN Center USA Award.[5]

Recognition

Phillips was a judge for the 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize. In April 2010, he was named as the new judge of the Yale Series of Younger Poets, replacing Louise Gluck. In 2011, he was appointed to the judging panel for The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards.[6] His collection of poetry, Double Shadow, was a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award for poetry.[7] Double Shadow won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Poetry category).

Phillips was a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2008 to 2012.[8] and he was nominated for the 2014 Griffin Poetry Prize for Silverchest.

The Board of Trustees of The Kenyon Review honored Carl Phillips as the 2013 recipient of the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement.[9]

Selected bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2016)

• In the Blood. UPNE, 1992; selected and introduced by Rachel Hadas. ISBN 9781555531355
• Cortège, Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1995, ISBN 9781555972301
• From the Devotions, Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1998, ISBN 9781555972639
• Pastoral, Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 2000, ISBN 9781555972981
• The Tether, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001, ISBN 9780374267933
• Rock Harbor, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002, ISBN 9780374528850
• The Rest of Love, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004, ISBN 9780374249533
• Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Art and Life of Poetry, Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 2004, ISBN 9781555974015
• Riding Westward: Poems. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2006. ISBN 978-0-374-53082-2.
• Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems, 1986–2006. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2007. ISBN 978-0-374-53078-5.
• Speak Low, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009, ISBN 9780374267162
• Double Shadow, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011, ISBN 9780374141578
• Silverchest, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013, ISBN 9780374261214
• The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-55597-681-1 (print), ISBN 978-1-55597-093-2 (eBook)
• Reconnaissance: Poems, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015, ISBN 9780374248284
• Wild Is the Wind, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018, ISBN 9780374290269
• Pale Colors in a Tall Field, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020, ISBN 9780374229054

Critical studies, reviews and biography

• Chiasson, Dan (April 15, 2013). "End of the line : new poems from Carl Phillips". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 9. pp. 78–79.

References

External links

• Poetry Is His Perfect Expression
• A Broadside by Carl Phillips (Green Linden Press 2019): "Like the Sweet Wet Earth Itself"
• Article at the Library of Congress
• Washington University in St. Louis: Poet Carl Phillips is finalist for National Book Award
• Poetry.LA's video of Carl Phillips' reading at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, Pasadena, CA, 03/08/10
• 2009 National Book Award Finalist in Poetry
• Phillips Interview on Words on a Wire