CHRISTIAN McEWEN,
P.O. Box 313,
WILLIAMSBURG, MA 01096
Website: www.christianmcewen.com
Email: christianmcewen@gmail.com

TEACHING:

Freelance workshop leader at the Zen Mountain Monastery, NY, at Rowe Conference Center, MA, and at numerous other venues, with a focus on poetry and nature writing, creativity and slowing down. 2000 – ongoing.

Adjunct faculty: Williams College, Center for Environmental Studies, Winter Studies Program. 1998-ongoing. Helps students develop “a mind of winter” through disciplined exercises in writing and drawing.

Writer-in-the-schools: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, City Lore and ALPS (Alternative Literary Programs), and The Scottish Poetry Library: 1988-ongoing. Conducts workshops in schools and senior centers, documenting their outcome through anthologies, public readings and radio programs.

Interviewer: Sparks From the Anvil: 2009-2013. Conducted in-depth interviews with visiting poets for the Smith College Poetry Reading Series.

Lecturer: Lesley University, Creative Arts in Learning Program. 1996-2009. Taught teachers to use poetry in the classroom.

Eugene Lang College and Parsons School of Art and Design. 1992-94. Designed courses in memoir, nature poetry and creative writing.

Writer: Roots & Branches Intergenerational Theater. 1991-94.  Worked with seniors  (65-88) and New York University acting students (19-23) to script and produce a series of full-length plays.

Advisor: Brooklyn Public Library Literacy Program. 1986-88. Taught weekly writing groups, tested and evaluated literacy students.

Creative Writing Teacher: Fulham and South Kensington Adult Education Institute, and University of London, Goldsmith’s College. 1984-86. Initiated new programs and weekend workshops. Organized readings and published the magazine, Off the Cuff.

Counselor: Casa La Vida, Oakland, California. 1981-82. Taught weekly writing groups and published the magazine, Undiagnosed.

CHRISTIAN McEWEN: PUBLICATIONS:

Articles in Lion’s Roar, Granta, The Mindfulness Bell, The American Voice, Orion Afield; and in numerous anthologies, including Out of the Class Closet: Lesbians Speak; My Mother’s Daughter: Stories by Women; The Granta Book of the Family; and in Old Faithful: 18 Writers Present Their Favorite Writing Assignment. Reviews in The Nation, The Village Voice, and the Shambhala Sun.

Poems in Poiesis; Sinister Wisdom; Poems for Peace; Love Poems By Women: An anthology of poetry from around the world and through the ages; Virago New Poets and My Lover is a Woman: Contemporary Lesbian Love Poems, and in numerous other journals.

Editor: Naming the Waves: Contemporary Lesbian Poetry, and, with Sue O’Sullivan, Out the Other Side: Contemporary Lesbian Writing (1989). Also edited Jo’s Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure (1997), and, with Mark Statman, The Alphabet of the Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing (2000).

Own books: In the Wake of Home (2004). World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down (2011). Audio ed: 2014. The Tortoise Diaries: On Creativity and Slowing Down (2014). Sparks from the Anvil: The Smith College Poetry Interviews (2015). Legal Tender: Women & the Secret Life of Money (2019), In Praise of Listening:  A Gathering of Stories (2023).

Video documentary Tomboys! Feisty Girls & Spirited Women (2004) co-produced with Julie Akeret.

EDUCATION:

B.A., English and Social Anthropology, Kings College, Cambridge, England, 1979. M.A., English, University of California at Berkeley, 1982.

AWARDS:

Fulbright Scholarship, 1979; the Lambda Literary Award, 1989 & 1997; The Fund for Poetry, 1991; The Quadrangle Award for Poetry, Springfield, MA (first prize), 2002; Fresno Reel Pride: Directors Club Award Best Short, 2005; Massachusetts Cultural Council: Artist Fellowship in Playwriting, 2011. Bechtel Prize, 2016.

FELLOWSHIPS:

Yaddo, MacDowell, Cummington, Millay, Hambidge Center, Cottages at Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Associate at Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, Mount Holyoke, 2010-2011, Mesa Refuge 2016.