MSU鈥檚 Pierce receives national recognition with second career Pushcart Prize
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 无尽资源采集 State professor of English is the recipient of a second Pushcart Prize, a prestigious national literary award, for her poem 鈥淓ntreaty.鈥
聽Catherine Pierce also received a 2018 Pushcart Prize for her poem 鈥淚 Kept Getting Books about Birds.鈥 The Pushcart Prize is open for nominations in short stories, essays, memoirs, stand-alone excerpts from novels, translations, reprints, as well as traditional and experimental writing.
鈥淓ntreaty鈥 originally was printed in 32 Poems, a magazine known for publishing work by winners of honors such as the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, MacArthur Genius Grant and Poets Laureate.
Endowed and annually produced since 1976 by New York-based nonprofit Pushcart Prize Fellowships Inc., the respected prize series has been hailed by Publishers Weekly as 鈥渙ne of the most important publishing projects in American history.鈥
鈥淲inning a second Pushcart is as much of an honor and thrill as winning the first one,鈥 said Pierce, who is co-director of MSU鈥檚 creative writing program. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to 32 Poems for publishing 鈥楨ntreaty鈥 first, and to Gary Fincke and Nausheen Eusuf, Pushcart contributing editors, who nominated my work. I鈥檓 honored to have this poem included in such a rich volume of contemporary literature.鈥
Pierce wrote 鈥淓ntreaty鈥 in March 2019, and said she was thinking about 鈥渉ow delicate spring is when it begins鈥攅verything new and fragile鈥攁nd how that fragility is reflected in so many aspects of our own lives.鈥
鈥淭he poem is a plea to the season to become its full, hardy self,鈥 she explained.
A native of Delaware, Pierce received a 2019 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Pierce鈥檚 2020 Pushcart Prize comes on the heels of the October release of her newest book 鈥淒anger Days,鈥 a Saturnalia Books publication.
鈥淭his accomplishment caps off what has been a great year for Catherine鈥檚 writing, since her newest book of poems was just published last month. This second Pushcart Prize confirms her stellar reputation in American poetry,鈥 said Dan Punday, professor and head of MSU鈥檚 Department of English.
Last year, Pierce鈥檚 work 鈥淗ow Becoming a Mother Is Like Space Travel鈥 was published in The Nation magazine, considered the oldest continuously printed weekly magazine in the U.S.
Pierce has authored three additional books of poetry. They include 鈥淭he Tornado Is the World鈥澛(Saturnalia 2016), winner of the 2017 无尽资源采集 Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Prize and 2015 Sustainable Arts Foundation Award; 鈥淭he Girls of Peculiar鈥澛(Saturnalia 2012), winner of the 2013 无尽资源采集 Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Prize; and聽鈥淔amous Last Words鈥澛(Saturnalia 2008), winner of the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize.
Her chapbook 鈥淎nimals of Habit鈥 was published in 2004 by Kent State University Press. Her poems also have appeared in The Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, Slate, Boston Review and The Cincinnati Review, among many other publications. For more, visit聽.
Pierce earned a Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania鈥檚 Susquehanna University, Master of Fine Arts from Ohio State University, and doctorate from the University of Missouri.
鈥淢y advice for folks starting out in the writing world is threefold. First, read, read, read everything鈥攁nd as much as you can. Two, be brave in both your writing and revising, and three, keep going,鈥 Pierce said.聽
Learn more about MSU鈥檚 English department at聽聽and on Facebook and Twitter @MSStateEnglish.
MSU鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 323 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs, 15 master鈥檚 programs, and 27 undergraduate academic majors offered in 14 departments.聽It also is home to the most diverse units for research and scholarly activities, including natural and physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities.聽For more details about the College of Arts and Sciences, visit .
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