Ren Powell
Ren (Katherine) Powell is an American poet and translator. Born (Karen Lee Tudor)in Anaheim California in 1966, she moved 43 times and changed her name three times before settling in Norway in 1992. Her full length poetry books include Fairy Tales and Soil: Gravid Poems (Wigestrand, bilingual edition 1998. Translations by Tor Obrestad.); mixed states (Wigestrand, bilingual edition 2004. Translations Eirik Lodén.); An Intimate Retribution (Wigestrand, bilingual edition 2010. Translations by Eirik Lodén.); and Mercy Island: New and Selected Poems (Phoenicia Publishing, 2011). [[File:renpowell.png|thumb|Ren Powell, poet and translator]
Powell has translated more than a dozen book-length publications for various publishers. Contemporary Norwegian poets she has worked with include Odveig Klyve, Tor Obrestad, Kolbein Falkeid, Einar O. Risa, Gunnar Roalkvam, Finn Øglænd, Jon Fosse and Mansur Rajih. She has been a member of The Norwegian Author's Union since 2005 [1], and was awarded and an Establishing Writer's Grant in 1999[2] . Her poetry collections have been purchased by the Norwegian Arts Council for national library distribution [3].
Powell has a BA in Theater Arts from the Texas A&M University (U.S.A.), and an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University (England). She has taught theater and drama at a performing and visual arts school for over a decade and worked as a graduate adviser at Prescott College's Masters program, which emphasizes community service as part of their teaching ethos.
From 2005 to 2008 Powell served as the Norwegian PEN representative for the International PEN Women Writers’ Committee[4] . She also helped establish the International Cities of Refuge Network [5] and is the founding editor of the online literary journals Protest Poems.org [6] and Babel Fruit: Writing Under the Influence. She is currently an associate editor for Poemeleon [7].
Ren Powell currently teaches writing workshops (Siste utkast) funded by a grant from the Norwegian Arts Council [8] , Sølvberget and Stavanger and Sandnes municipalities.
Powell is married with two children.