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Rebecca Gayle Howell

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Rebecca Gayle Howell
Credit: Victoria Marie Bee
Credit: Victoria Marie Bee
Born (1975-08-10) August 10, 1975 (age 49)
Lexington, Kentucky
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
Literary movementSouthern

Rebecca Gayle Howell (born August 10, 1975, in Lexington, Kentucky)[1] is an American writer, literary translator, and editor.[2] In 2019 she was named a United States Artists Fellow.[3]

Education

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Howell was born to a working-class family in Lexington, Kentucky on August 10, 1975. She earned her BA and her MA at the University of Kentucky, her MFA at Drew University, and her PhD at Texas Tech University.[citation needed]

Career

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Poetry

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Her first book Render / An Apocalypse was selected by Nick Flynn for the Cleveland State University Poetry Center's First Book Prize (2013). Render / An Apocalypse also received a cover review in The Los Angeles Times[4], The Nautilus Award,[5] and a finalist shortlist for Foreword Review's INDIES Book of the Year.[6] In 2016, Burnaway: Art of the South named it a Best Book of the Year. In 2020 literary critic Jennifer Ashton featured Render / An Apocalypse in her chapter "Ecology, Ethics, and the Apocalyptic Lyric in Recent American Poetry" for Apocalypse in American Literature and Culture (Cambridge University Press).[7]

American Purgatory, her second book, was selected by Don Share for The Sexton Prize[8] and was published in both Great Britain and the United States in 2017. American Purgatory was also a finalist for Foreword Review's INDIES Book of the Year.[9] The book was named a must read by The Courier-Journal, The Millions[10] and Poetry London. Other reviewers included ArtsATL, Nashville Review, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and The Rumpus.

In March 2023, Howell released What Things Cost: an anthology for the people, which she co-edited with Ashley M. Jones and associate editor Emily Jalloul (University Press of Kentucky).[11] The collection received a starred review from Publishers Weekly[12], a notable anthology for 2023 by Poetry & Writers[13], a best poetry book of 2023 by Ms. Magazine[14], a best Southern book of 2023 by Southern Review of Books[15], and the 2023 INDIES GOLD Best Anthology of the Year by Foreword Reviews.[16] What Things Cost is called by the publisher, "the first major anthology of labor writing in nearly a century," and all proceeds go to benefit The Poor People's Campaign.[citation needed]

Translation

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Howell is the English-language translator of Amal al-Jubouri's verse memoir of the Iraq War, Hagar Before the Occupation / Hagar After the Occupation (Alice James Books, 2011). This translation, carried out in collaboration with Husam Qaisi and al-Jubouri, was a finalist for the 2012 Best Translated Book Award[17] and the U.K.'s Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.[18] International reviewers included The Wall Street Journal's Mint[19] and Asymptote.[20] Hagar received a Best Book of Poetry for 2011 from Library Journal and a Best Book by an Arab Woman from Book Riot in 2017.[21]

Howell's El interior de la ballena / The belly of the whale is the bilingual edition of Claudia Prado's award-winning collection of Patagonian agrarian poetry, released in spring 2024 by Texas Tech University Press.[22] Howell's and Prado's versions have appeared in The Sewanee Review, The Common, The Southern Review, and elsewhere.

Librettos

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In 2019, she began a collaboration with classical composer Reena Esmail. A Winter Breviary, their solstice carol cycle, was published by Oxford University Press in 2022.[23] The third of these carols, "The Unexpected Early Hour," was premiered at the Los Angeles Master Chorale Festival of Carols, December 4, 2021,[24] then recorded and broadcast by the BBC on December 24, 2021. In 2022, The Gesualdo Six recorded the entire cycle for Choral Music from Oxford with the Gesualdo Six[25], and in 2023 St. Martin's Choir recorded the cycle as the title tracks for A Winter Breviary: Choral Works for Christmas (Resonus Classics).[26] The work has been performed and toured by choirs like The Gesualdo Six, The Sixteen, The Yale Ensemble, and Voces8. In 2023 "The Unexpected Early Hour" was also collected in Carols for Choirs 6 (Oxford University Press).[27]

Publishing

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Howell is the poetry editor of Oxford American.[28] Since 2014, Howell has published writing by poets like Nathaniel Mackey,[29] Nikki Giovanni,[30] Tarfia Faizullah,[31] Tyehimba Jess,[32] C.D. Wright,[33] Kwame Dawes,[34] Ashley M. Jones,[35] Ada Limón,[36] Dean Young,[37] Crystal Wilkinson,[38] Naomi Shihab Nye,[39] and Jericho Brown.[40][better source needed] In 2016, Howell and her fellow editors received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, marking the first time in the magazine's 24-year history to receive the award.[41]

Howell is also an assistant editor and letterpress printer for Q Avenue Books and a contributing editor for Pushcart Press. In 2015 she began freelance editing place-based poetry collections, including Crystal Wilkinson's Perfect Black (University Press of Kentucky, 2021); Julia Bouwsma's Work By Bloodlight (Cider Press, 2017); Nomi Stone's Kill Class (Tupelo Press, 2019); and Savannah Sipple's WWJD And Other Poems (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019). In 2017, she founded Fireside Industries, an imprint of the University Press of Kentucky. Among the titles Howell published with Fireside are first books by Tanya Berry and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle.

Awards

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Books

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  • El interior de la ballena / The belly of the whale, poems by Claudia Prado and translated by Rebecca Gayle Howell (Texas Tech University Press, 2024).
  • What Things Cost: an anthology for the people, co-edited by Rebecca Gayle Howell & Ashley M. Jones. Associate Editor, Emily Jalloul. (University Press of Kentucky, 2023).
  • A Winter Breviary, written by Rebecca Gayle Howell, composed by Reena Esmail. (Oxford University Press, 2022).
  • Say Your Name, written by Rebecca Gayle Howell, composed by Reena Esmail. (A Piece of Sky Music, 2022).
  • American Purgatory, poems by Rebecca Gayle Howell. (Black Spring Press Group, 2017).
  • Render / An Apocalypse, poems by Rebecca Gayle Howell. (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2013).
  • Hagar Before the Occupation / Hagar After the Occupation, poems by Amal al-Jubouri and translated by Rebecca Gayle Howell with Husam Qaisi. (Alice James Books, 2011).

References

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  1. ^ "Book: The complicated animal". Leo Weekly. [dead link]
  2. ^ "Andrew C. Gottlieb Reviews Render: an Apocalypse, by Rebecca Gayle Howell". Terrain.org
  3. ^ "United States Artists » 2019 Fellows". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  4. ^ "Rebecca Gayle Howell's apocalyptic poetry collection, 'Render'". Los Angeles Times. July 8, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  5. ^ "Nautilus Book Awards – Better Books for a Better World". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  6. ^ ""Render" is a 2013 Foreword INDIES Finalist". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  7. ^ Ashton, Jennifer (2020), Hay, John (ed.), "Ecology, Ethics, and the Apocalyptic Lyric in Recent American Poetry", Apocalypse in American Literature and Culture, Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 199–211, ISBN 978-1-108-49384-0, retrieved February 22, 2021
  8. ^ "Rebecca Gayle Howell's AN AMERICAN PURGATORY Wins the 2016 Sexton Prize for Poetry". The Black Spring Press Group. October 20, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "2017 Foreword INDIES Finalists in Poetry (Adult Nonfiction)". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  10. ^ "The Millions: American Purgatory by Rebecca Gayle Howell". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  11. ^ "What Things Cost". The University Press of Kentucky. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  12. ^ "What Things Cost: An Anthology for the People by". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  13. ^ "The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections". Poets & Writers. February 15, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  14. ^ Strand, Karla J. (April 20, 2023). "Reads for the Rest of Us: The Best Poetry of the Last Year". Ms. Magazine. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  15. ^ Risley, Chelsea (March 13, 2023). "The Best Southern Books of March 2023". Southern Review of Books. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  16. ^ ""What Things Cost" is a 2023 Foreword INDIES Winner". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  17. ^ "2012 Best Translated Book Award Finalists: Fiction and Poetry « Three Percent". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  18. ^ mlynxqualey (August 13, 2012). "The 22 Entries for the 2012 Banipal Translation Prize". ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  19. ^ Nair, Supriya (May 11, 2012). "The fragile world". mint. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  20. ^ "How to Live in Exile: The Poetry of Amal al-Jubouri - Asymptote". www.asymptotejournal.com. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  21. ^ Qualey, M. Lynx (January 6, 2017). "100 Recommended Books by Arab Women for Your 2017 Reading Resolutions". BOOK RIOT. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  22. ^ "The Belly of the Whale". Texas Tech University Press. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  23. ^ Esmail, Reena (May 3, 2022). A Winter Breviary. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-356190-8.
  24. ^ "Festival of Carols". Los Angeles Master Chorale. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  25. ^ "Choral Music from Oxford with The Gesualdo Six 2022". SoundCloud. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  26. ^ "A Winter Breviary: Choral Works for Christmas | RES10328". Resonus Classics & Inventa Records. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  27. ^ Chilcott, Bob; Hill, David; Chilcott, Bob; Hill, David (July 13, 2023). Carols for Choirs 6: Fifty Christmas Carols. . . . for Choirs Collections. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-355111-4.
  28. ^ "Hands In Bleach". www.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  29. ^ "Oxford American | From Double Trio". www.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  30. ^ "The Blues". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  31. ^ "Oxford American | Six Poems". www.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  32. ^ "General James Bethune and John Bethune Introduce Blind Tom". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  33. ^ "What Do You Think's in the Shed?". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  34. ^ "Three Poems". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  35. ^ "Four Poems". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  36. ^ "An American Sound". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  37. ^ "Five Poems". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  38. ^ "Dig If You Will The Picture". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  39. ^ "We Always Needed You". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  40. ^ "Stand". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  41. ^ "We Did It!". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  42. ^ "2017 Foreword INDIES Finalists in Poetry (Adult Nonfiction)". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  43. ^ "Rebecca Gayle Howell's AN AMERICAN PURGATORY Wins the 2016 Sexton Prize for Poetry". The Black Spring Press Group. October 20, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  44. ^ "Kentucky Arts Council". kentucky.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  45. ^ "We Did It!". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  46. ^ ""My Mother Told Us Not to Have Children" by Rebecca Gayle Howell | Rattle: Poetry".
  47. ^ "Nautilus Book Awards – Better Books for a Better World". Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  48. ^ "2013 Foreword INDIES Finalists in Poetry (Adult Nonfiction)". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  49. ^ Schmeltzer, Michael. "CUTBANK REVIEWS: “Render/An Apocalypse” by Rebecca Gayle Howell"
  50. ^ "Three Percent".
  51. ^ mlynxqualey (August 13, 2012). "The 22 Entries for the 2012 Banipal Translation Prize". ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
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