Ben Howard
Emeritus Professor of English, Alfred University
EDUCATION
Ph.D., English Literature, Syracuse University
M.A., English and Creative Writing, Syracuse University
B.A., Drake University
Studies in English Literature, Leeds University (Leeds, England)
AWARDS
Excellence in Teaching Award, Alfred University, 1998
NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, 1993-1994
Fred H. Gertz Chair in Writing, Alfred University, 1996-1999
Theodore Christian Hoepfner Award, Southern Humanities Review, 1995
Milton Dorfman Prize in Poetry, 1992
Hagar Chair in the Humanities, Alfred University
Alan Collins Fellowship in Poetry, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, 1982
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1966-1967
Phi Beta Kappa
BOOKS
Immovable Awareness: The Intimate Practice of Zen. Whitlock Publishing, 2016.
Firewood and Ashes: New and Selected Poems, Salmon Poetry, 2015.
The Backward Step: Essays on Zen Practice, forthcoming, Whitlock Publishing, 2013.
Entering Zen. Whitlock Publishing, 2011.
Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt (poems), Salmon Poetry, 2009
Dark Pool (poems), Salmon, 2004.
Midcentury (verse novella), Salmon, 1997.
The Pressed Melodeon: Essays on Modern Irish Writing. Story Line Press, 1996.
Lenten Anniversaries: Poems 1982-1989. The Cummington Press, 1990.
Northern Interior: Poems 1975-1982. The Cummington Press, 1986.
Father of Waters: Poems 1965-1975. Abattoir Editions (University of
Nebraska at Omaha), 1979.
INCLUSION IN ANTHOLOGIES
If Ever You Go: Dublin in Poetry and Song. Ed. Pat Boran & Gerard Smyth. Dedalus, 2016.
From Sorrow’s Well: The Poetry of Hayden Carruth. Ed. Shaun Griffin. U. of Michigan, 2013.
The Book of Irish American Poetry. Ed. Daniel Tobin. University of Notre Dame, 2007.
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day. Ed. Billy Collins. Random House, 2005.
The POETRY Anthology 1912-2002: Ninety Years of America’s Most Distinguished
Verse Magazine. Ed. Joseph Parisi and Stephen Young. Ivan R. Dee, 2002.
Poetry Comes Up Where It Can: Poetry from The Amicus Journal. Ed. Brian Swann.
University of Utah Press, 2002.
Urban Nature: Poems about Wildlife in the City. Ed. Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Milkweed Editions, 2000.
On William Stafford. Ed. Tom Andrews. University of Michigan Press, 1993.
Poetry from the Amicus Journal. Ed. Brian Swann. Tioga Publishing, 1990.
The State Street Reader. Ed. Judith Kitchen. State Street Press, 1990.
A Garland for Harry Duncan. Thomas Taylor, 1989.
Strong Measures. Ed. David Jauss and Philip Dacey. Harper and Row, 1985.
Men Talk. Ed. Elliot Fried and Barry Singer. Pacific House Books, 1985.
A Green Place. Ed. William Jay Smith. Delacorte Press, 1982.
The POETRY Anthology. Ed. Daryl Hine and Joseph Parisi. Houghton-Mifflin, 1979.
Anne Sexton: The Artist and Her Critics. Indiana University Press, 1978.
RESIDENCIES
Dzogchen Beara (Allihies, Beara Peninsula, West Cork, Ireland). July 1998
Yaddo. 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997
The Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Annaghmakerrig), Co. Monaghan, Ireland
1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997
The Centrum Foundation (Port Townsend, Washington). 1992, 1993
SELECTED LECTURES, PAPERS, PRESENTATIONS
Reading, Sewanee Writers Conference, 2010
Reading, University of the South, October 14, 2009.
“The Many and the One: Cultural Identity and Contemporary Irish Poetry” (lecture), Celtic Identity in the New Millenium. Monroe Community College, Rochester, New York, March 13, 2009.
Contemplative Writing Workshop. Zen Center of New York City,
January 2008.
Contemplative Writing Workshop. Zen Center of New York City.
May, 2007
“Action and Repose: Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Influence in the Poems
of Elizabeth Bishop”. Gerard Manley Hopkins International Summer
School. Monasterevin, Ireland, June, 2006.
“Why Did the Buddhadharma Come to Ireland?” (paper), American Conference
for Irish Studies, national meeting, Notre Dame University, April 15, 2005.
Reading from Dark Pool, Writers Centre, Dublin, Ireland. July 19, 2004.
Reading from Dark Pool, American Conference for Irish Studies, international
meeting, Liverpool, England, July 15, 2004.
“Expecting Nothing,” keynote address, Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony,
Alfred University, April 7, 2004.
“The Sunlight on the Garden: Contemplative Awareness in Higher Education”
(lecture), The Bergren Forum, Alfred University, November, 2004.
“Thereness is All: Form and Vision in the Art of Eamon Grennan” (paper), national
meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies, University of
St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 2003.
Reading, ACIS conference, St. Paul, 2003.
“A Belfast Contemplative: Michael Longley’s The Weather in Japan” (paper),
national meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies,
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 2002.
Reading, ACIS conference, Milwaukee, 2002.
“Stopping and Looking: The Meditative Attitude” (lecture),
The Bergren Forum, Alfred University, September 13, 2001.
“Mysterious Crafts: The Figure of Printing in the Poems of Greg Delanty”
(paper), international meeting of the American Conference for
Irish Studies, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, July, 2000.
Reading, Writers’ Centre, Dublin, Ireland, July 12, 1999.
“The Art of Sean Dunne” (paper), National Meeting of the American
Conference for Irish Studies, Roanoke, Virginia, May 1999.
“The Color Yellow: Versions of Decadence in the Recent Work of Derek Mahon”
(lecture), Kerry International Summer School, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland,
August, 1998.
“Buffaloed and Beguiled: Reciprocal Visions of Ireland and America” (lecture),
Creighton University Program at Trinity College, Dublin, July, 1998.
“Unexpected Affirmations” (paper), national meeting of the American Conference
for Irish Studies, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, April, 1998.
“Written on Water” (lecture/reading), Bergren Forum, October, 1997.
Reading, University of California at Berkeley, November, 1997.
Reading, San Francisco Book Fair, November, 1997.
Reading, Borders Books and Music, Rochester, New York, September, 1997.
Reading, The Imperial Hotel, Tralee, Co. Kerry, July, 1997.
“Resilient Rondeaux:: Love and Passion in Derek Mahon’s ‘The Hudson Letter”
(lecture), Kerry International Summer School, Tralee, August 6, 1997.
“The Moral Elegance of Derek Mahon” (lecture), Creighton University Summer
Program at Trinity College, Dublin, July, 1997.
Reading, The Writers’ Centre, Dublin, July, 1997.
Chair, Colloquium on Northern Irish Poetry, national meeting of the American
Conference for Irish Studies, Albany, New York, April, 1997.
Interviewed by Paul Baker for the Bookshelf program, WXXI radio, Rochester,
New York. A discussion of The Pressed Melodeon: Essays on Modern
Irish Writing. September, 1996.
“Derek Mahon’s Epistolary Art” (paper), “Exploring Form and Narrative,”
a national conference held at West Chester University, June, 1996.
“On ‘The Hudson Letter’” (lecture), Creighton University Summer Program
at Trinity College, Dublin, July, 1996.
Presentation and discussion of The Pressed Melodeon, Borders Books and Music,
(Rochester, New York), July 27, 1996.
Ben Howard 