Heather Clark (writer)
Heather Clark | |
|---|---|
| Occupation |
|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) University of Oxford (PhD) |
| Notable works | Red Comet (2020) |
| Website | |
| heatherclarkauthor | |
Heather Clark is an American writer, literary critic and academic. Her biography of poet Sylvia Plath, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize.[1] She is also the author of The Grief of Influence: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (2011) and The Ulster Renaissance: Poetry in Belfast 1962–1972 (2006).
Biography
[edit]Clark earned a BA from Harvard University and a PhD in English from University of Oxford.[2]
Clark's first book, The Ulster Renaissance: Poetry in Belfast 1962–1972 was published by Oxford University Press in 2006. It is an exploration of the ten-year period of energetic poetic production in Belfast, Northern Ireland, driven by young poets such as Paul Muldoon, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Michael Longley, and James Simmons. The book won the Donald J. Murphy Prize for Best First Book and the Robert Rhodes Prize for Books on Literature from the American Conference for Irish Studies.
Her second book, The Grief of Influence, is an analytical study of the creative work, tumultuous marriage, and artistic rivalry of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, published by Oxford University Press in 2011. It was chosen as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2011.[3]
In 2020, Alfred A. Knopf published Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath. At over 1,000 pages, the biography includes previously unpublished manuscripts, letters, court, police, and psychiatric records, and new interviews. In a review in The New York Times, Daphne Merkin writes,
"This vast new biography sets out to recover Plath from her melodramatic legacy. Her life story—from her institutionalizations to her tempestuous marriage to Ted Hughes—has often been reduced to that of a depressive, literary femme fatale, which Clark believes ignores the poet's true genius".[4]
In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Jessica Ferri called the book "a joyful affirmation for Plath fanatics and a legitimization of her legacy".[5]
Clark's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Review, TIME, The Times Literary Supplement, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. She lives in New York and Yorkshire, England and is Professor Emerita at University of Huddersfield.[2]
Awards and grants
[edit]- Emory University's Manuscript, Archive, and Rare Book Library Fellowship[citation needed]
- Visiting U.S. Fellowship at the Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library[citation needed]
- Leon Levy Biography Fellowship at the City University of New York (2016)[6]
- Guggenheim Foundation fellowship (2022)[7]
- National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship (2017)[8]
- Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography (2020)[9]
- Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, (2020)[10]
- Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Biography (2021)[1]
- Winner, Slightly Foxed Prize for Best First Biography (2020)[11]
- Best Books, The New York Times Book Review (2021)[12]
- Winner, Truman Capote Prize for Literary Criticism (2022)[13]
- 2024–2025 Cullman Center Fellow[14]
Publications
[edit]- The Ulster Renaissance: Poetry in Belfast 1962–1972 (2006) ISBN 978-0199287314
- The Grief of Influence: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (2011) ISBN 978-0199558193
- Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath (2020) ISBN 978-0307961167
References
[edit]- ^ a b https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/heather-clark
- ^ a b "Bio". Heather Clark. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ "Choice Outstanding Academic Title | Awards and Honors | LibraryThing". LibraryThing.com. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ Merkin, Daphne (2020-10-27). "Shifting the Focus From Sylvia Plath's Tragic Death to Her Brilliant Life". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ Ferri, Jessica (2020-10-29). "Review: Think you know Sylvia Plath? Read this definitive new biography". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ Ziolkowski, Thad. "Current & Former Fellows". Leon Levy Center for Biography. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ "Heather Clark". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation... Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ "NEH grant details: The Light of the Mind: A Biography of American Poet and Novelist Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)". apps.neh.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ "Isabel Wilkerson, Jacob Soboroff, Akwaeke Emezi among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists". Los Angeles Times. 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ Schaub, Michael (2021-01-25). "Announcing the Finalists for the 2020 NBCC Awards". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ "Heather Clark wins the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2020 for Red Comet". 9 March 2021.
- ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2021". The New York Times. November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
- ^ "Kay Ryan and Heather Clark Receive the 2021 and 2022 Truman Capote Awards | Iowa Writers' Workshop | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa". writersworkshop.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ Allen, Brittany (23 April 2024). "Please welcome the 2024-25 class of Cullman fellows". Literary Hub. Retrieved 24 April 2024.