Lia Purpura
Lia Purpura (born February 22, 1964) is an American poet and essayist. She is the author of four collections of poems (The Brighter the Veil, Stone Sky Lifting, King Baby, It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful), four collections of essays (Increase, On Looking, Rough Likeness, All the Fierce Tethers), and one collection of translations (Poems of Grzegorz Musial: Berliner Tagebuch and Taste of Ash). Her awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, The Fulbright Foundation, and others.
Lia Purpura
Oregon State University · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Lia Purpura
- Born
- 22 February 1964
- Birthplace
- Mineola, New York
- Education
- Oberlin College; Iowa Writers' Workshop
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- poet · translator · writer
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship · Beatrice Hawley Award
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wikidata · Q6539393 · wikipedia · Lia Purpura
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Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
On Looking was a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her poems and essays appear in: Agni, The New Yorker, Poetry, Orion, The Paris Review, The New Republic, The Georgia Review. Emergence, and elsewhere.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Lia Purpura • Born — 22 February 1964 • Birthplace — Mineola, New York • Education — Oberlin College; Iowa Writers' Workshop • Genres — Poetry; Essays
Documentary record
Lia Purpura (born 22 February 1964) is recorded as a poet and writer. The birth of Lia Purpura is recorded on 22 February 1964 in Mineola, New York.
Early Life and Education
Early Life and Education
Lia Purpura grew up on Long Island, NY and received a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA, (as a Teaching-Writing Fellow) from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Career
Career
Lia Purpura served as Writer in Residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Loyola University, Maryland, and taught at the low-residency MFA program The Rainier Writing Workshop. She had also taught at The Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, The Bennington Writing Program, The University of Iowa’s Nonfiction MFA program, The Minnesota Northwoods Conference, and served as Visting Writer at the Eastman School of Music, The Chautauqua Institution, and elsewhere.
Collaborations
Collaborations
• The Poulenc Trio: Creation, featuring Lia Purpura, poet, (Delos/Naxos, 2016)
Essays
Essays
* * * *
Translations
Translations
• (Translation) Artist’s Book, Letterpress, Artwork • Threadings. Artist’s Portfolio and Journal, and Essays (Agni, #102) • First Adventures in Beauty (SeeDouble Press) • Scream, or, Neverminding (Literary House Press, Washington College, MD)
List of poems
List of poems
• Title — |Year — |First published — |Reprinted/collected • Prayer — 2012 • Beginning — 2013
Podcasts and Interviews
Podcasts and Interviews
• Contemplify: Tending to the Spiritual Interior of Language • The Slowdown (introduced by Tracy K. Smith) • The New Yorker Podcasts: Lia Purpura Reads Carl Phillips and her own work • Poetry Society of America • Essay Daily
Collections
• Gather (Poems) Alice James Books, 2028 • It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful (Poems) Penguin Press, 2015, • King Baby (Poems) Alice James Books, 2008, • Stone Sky Lifting (Poems) Ohio State University Press, 2000, • The Brighter the Veil (Poems) Orchises Press, 1996,
Awards
Lia Purpura was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (for On Looking) and was awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fulbright Fellowship (translation, Warsaw Poland), Maryland State Arts Council Awards, and multiple fellowship residencies at The MacDowell Colony, as well as residencies at the Millay Colony, Blue Mountain Center, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Other awards include: • All the Fierce Tethers (Sarabande Books 2019): Independent Publishers Book Award (Gold); Nautilus Book Award in Lyric Prose (Gold) • King Baby (poems, Alice James Books, 2008) won the Beatrice Hawley Award and was a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award and the Maine Literary Award. • On Looking (essays, Sarabande Books, 2006) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the winner of the Towson University Prize in Literature. • Increase (essays, University of Georgia Press, 2000) won the Associated Writing Programs Award in Creative Nonfiction. • Stone Sky Lifting (poems, Ohio State University Press, 2000) won the OSU Press/The Journal Award. • The Brighter the Veil (poems, Orchises Press, 1996) won the Towson University Prize in Literature.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Lia Purpura, revision 1372570901 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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.Award Winners.
- 2.Sarabande Books
- 3.Naxos (Delos). Chamber Music - SCHNITTKE, A. / BEETHOVEN, L. van / VAZQUEZ, O. (Creation) (The Poulenc Trio). Naxos Catalog.
- 4.Purpura, Lia. It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful. Penguin Books. 112. September 29, 2015. 978-0-14-312690-4.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
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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 24 August 2026.
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