  |
 |
|
| 450 North Avenue • Battle Creek, MI 49017 • (269) 965-3931 | ||
|
|
BA (English), Western Michigan University, 1980 MA (English, Creative Writing Emphasis), University of Colorado, 1983 Candidate, Ph.D. program, Western Michigan University, 2000 -. I have been a writer for as long as I can remember. I am not only an English instructor for KCC, I am also advisor to the student newspaper, The Bruin, and originated a monthly poetry reading series. I am the past president of Friends of Poetry, Inc., a small non-profit organization existing to promote the appreciation and writing of poetry. I have also served on the board of the YWCA. I frequently work as a Creative Writer in the Schools, which I have done for the past fifteen years. Currently I am the copresident of the Kellogg Faculty Association. I have won several prizes in writing. In 1997, I was the first prize winner in the Detroit Auto Dealers' Association Short Story Contest, which carried a $1,000 prize. I also won this contest in 1989. I was the winner of Renegade Magazine's first "Warlords of the Subculture" poetry contest, which was a totally new way to think of myself. I am the author of three chap books of poetry: Postcard, 1989, and Her Bodies, 1995, and The Seven, 1997, all from March Street Press, Greensboro, North Carolina. I am the queen of the honorable mention. Last year I received a Starfish Award from the College for outstanding teaching. I was awarded a fellowship to the Arts and Letters Writers Conference in Georgia in May of 2000. I have been honored at work with a Teaching Excellence Award from Kellogg Community College, 1997. Two of these are granted each year, and I was pleased to be a recipient. I also received an artist grant from the Kalamazoo Arts Council, 1997. I combined these grants, and I spent a week in Chautauqua, New York, at the Highlights Writers Conference. In June of 1998, I spent three weeks at the Atlantic Center for the Arts studying performance poetry with Sekou Sundiata. Two years ago, I received recognition from Central Michigan University for being an Outstanding Educator. Prior to that, I received the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty award from Nazareth College in 1990. In graduate school, I received one of four Colorado Prizes when I began my graduate studies. I had a full assistantship both years, and won the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich prize for the best thesis when I graduated in 1983. Prior to that I was Miss congeniality in the Miss Grand Rapids Junior College Pageant. I read one of my own poems as my talent, even though I could both tap dance and pay the piano, though not simultaneously. I've spent most of my life rebelling against my upbringing in a WASP neighborhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was fortunate enough to come of age during the Civil Rights Movement which (for me) segued into the Anti-war Movement which led to the Women's Movement which led me to graduate school. I now teach English at Kellogg Community College. I'm the mother of three, one of whom was planned. Artists Statement A friend of mine once said that watching me do a poetry reaading was like watching someone cut off their hand with a chainsaw. And this was a compliment! My work is powerful and honest. I am trying to write beautifully about terrible things. My own life is the basis for much of my work. I've been writing for over 25 years, one of the most staisfying aspects of my life. I think it is important that the truth be told wherever we can see it, and helping others see truth is one of my missions in writing. Healing is another. Even in my Freshman Composition classes, the writing and the healing take place together. Whether the students are aware of it or not. Biographical Note Elizabeth Kerlikowske teaches at Kellogg Community College. She is president of Friends of Poetry, Inc., which runs the annual "Poems That Ate Our Ears" contest in Kalamazoo and paints poetry murals on downtown buildings. She has been widely published in small magazines over the years and is a two time winner of the Detroit Auto Dealers' Short Story Contest. she has three chapbooks of poetry:Postcards, Her Bodies, and The Seven, all from March Street Press. Recent Publications
|
|
