Brenda Shaughnessy
Brenda Shaughnessy (born 1970) is an Asian American poet most known for her poetry books Our Andromeda and So Much Synth. Shaughnessy works as an associate professor of English in the MFA Creative Writing program at Rutgers University–Newark.
Brenda Shaughnessy

Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0
- Name
- Brenda Shaughnessy
- Born
- 1970
- Birthplace
- Okinawa Island, USCAR
- Education
- University of California, Santa Cruz Columbia University
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- poet · writer
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Brenda Shaughnessy (born 1970) is an Asian American poet most known for her poetry books Our Andromeda and So Much Synth. Shaughnessy works as an associate professor of English in the MFA Creative Writing program at Rutgers University–Newark.
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Brenda Shaughnessy (born 1970) is a poet and writer, of American nationality. The poet was born in Okinawa.
Brenda Shaughnessy was educated at Columbia University, Columbia University School of the Arts and University of California, Santa Cruz. The poet worked for Princeton University and Radcliffe College.
Languages used include English. Honours include Guggenheim Fellowship.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q4960761 · wikipedia · Brenda Shaughnessy
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Brenda Shaughnessy • Born — 1970 • Birthplace — Okinawa Island, USCAR • Language — English • Education — University of California, Santa Cruz Columbia University
Life
Life
Shaughnessy was born in Okinawa and grew up in Southern California. She received her BA in literature and women's studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz and MFA at Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, BOMB, Conjunctions, McSweeney's, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. Our Andromeda (2012) was selected as a Library Journal "Book of the Year" and as one of the "100 Best Books of 2013" by The New York Times as well as being shortlisted for both the 2013 PEN/Open Book Award and the 2013 International Griffin Poetry Prize. So Much Synth was published in 2016 by Copper Canyon Press and was named one of the best poetry collections of 2016 by The New York Times and Publishers Weekly. Her fifth book of poems, The Octopus Museum, was published by Knopf in 2019. She is an associate professor of English in the MFA program at Rutgers-Newark. She lives in Verona, New Jersey with her husband, the poet and editor Craig Morgan Teicher, and their children.
Poetry
Poetry
• Collections * * * * * * • Anthologies * * * * * • List of poems • Title — |Year — |First published — |Reprinted/collected • I'm over the moon — 2005 • Three summers mark only two years — 2005 • Straight's the new gay — 2005 • I have a time machine — 2015 • Too hot can't stop — 2022 * * * * * • "Epithalament", Fort.org
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Brenda Shaughnessy”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4960761: Brenda Shaughnessy
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
• 2018 Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. • Our Andromeda, shortlisted for the 2013 International Griffin Poetry Prize and the 2013 PEN/Open Book Award. • Human Dark with Sugar, winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, finalist for National Book Critics Circle award • Interior with Sudden Joy, which was nominated for the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, a Lambda Literary Award, and the Norma Farber First Book Award. • Bunting Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University • Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission Artist Fellowship.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.BOMB Magazine: Three Poems by Brenda Shaughnessy.
- 2.100 Notable Books of 2013. The New York Times. November 27, 2013.
- 3.PEN Open Book Award. June 10, 2020.
- 4.So Much Synth by Brenda Shaughnessy.
- 5.Charles, Ron. Brenda Shaughnessy to discuss the ‘Life of a Poet’ at Hill Center. The Washington Post. January 31, 2013.
- 6.Nelson, Juliann. The PEN Ten: An Interview with Poet Brenda Shaughnessy. PEN America. 2019-05-20.
- 7.A New Day for the RU-N MFA In Creative Writing, and a Boon For Incoming MFA Students. www.newark.rutgers.edu.
- 8.Viva Staff. Roberto Bolaño finalist for National Book Critics Circle award. The New York Daily NEws. January 26, 2009.
- 9.Gerstler, Amy. Love, Absence and Loss, Filtered Through Philosophical Poems. The New York Times. 2023-03-27. 0362-4331.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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