WILMINGTON — Vermont's next Poet Laureate, Chard deNiord, will read from his new book of poetry, Interstate, on Friday, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. at Bartleby's Books. DeNiord will also answer questions from the audience and sign copies of his books.
Interstate is a collection of lyrical poems in four sections that concentrate thematically on animals, love and sex, compassion, and loss.
The son of a doctor, deNiord anticipated going into the medical profession as well until his college professors introduced him to religious studies, which he chose as his major. DeNiord graduated from Lynchburg College in 1975 and went on to earn his MDiv from Yale Divinity School in 1978.
Before pursuing ordination, deNiord got a job working as an inpatient psychiatric aide at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. Five years later, he left to pursue poetry, attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he received his MFA in 1985.
Returning to New England, deNiord taught at private schools for over a decade while publishing his poems. In 1990, he published his first poetry collection, Asleep in the Fire (University of Alabama Press, 1990), while teaching comparative religions and philosophy at the Putney School in Vermont.
In 1998, deNiord began teaching at Providence College, where he was eventually named the tenth recipient of the Joseph R. Accinno Faculty Teaching Award. That same year, he founded the Spirit and Letter Workshop, a 10-day program of workshops and lectures in Patzquaro, Mexico, featuring faculty poets such asThomas Lux, Gerald Stern, Jean Valentine, and Ellen Bryant Voigt, among others.
In 2002, deNiord cofounded the New England College MFA program in poetry, which he directed until 2007.
DeNiord is currently a professor of English at Providence College and the Poet Laureate of Vermont. He lives in Westminster West with his wife, Liz.