Curtis L. Crisler was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. He received a BA in English, with a minor in Theatre, from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW, now PFW), and he received his MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. An award-winning poet/author, Crisler's Doing Drive-Bys on How to Love in the Midwest won the C&R Press Award for poetry. His other books are (with Kevin McKelvey's) Indiana Nocturnes: Our Rural and Urban Patchwork; THe GReY aLBuM [PoeMS], a Steel Toe Books open reading period selection; Don't Moan So Much (Stevie): A Poetry Musiquarium;"This" Ameri-can-ah; Pulling Scabs, nominated for Pushcart. His YA books are Tough Boy Sonatas and Dreamist: a mixed-genre novel. His poetry chapbooks are Black Achilles; Wonderkind, nominated for a Pushcart; Soundtrack to Latchkey Boy; Spill, won a Keyhole Chapbook Award; and Burnt Offering of a City, won the Kathy Young Chapbook Award. Crisler's awarded fellowships and residencies are from the City of Asylum/ Pittsburgh (COA/P), a Cave Canem (Fellow), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), Soul Mountain, a guest resident at Hamline University, a guest resident at Words on the Go, and Writer-in-Residence (Writers @ The Carr Program) sponsored by Poets & Writers, INC. Crisler's awarded grants and awards are a Library Scholars Grant Award, a RHINO Founder's Award, Indiana Arts Commission Grants, Eric Hoffer Awards, the Sterling Plumpp First Voices Poetry Award, and he was nominated for the Eliot Rosewater Award and a Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Award. He's been a Contributing Poetry Editor for Aquarius Press and a Poetry Editor for Human Equity through Art (HEArt). Crisler is Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Contact him for readings, workshops, presentations, panels, etc., at poetcrisler.com.
