Peter Campion is the author of Radical as Reality: Form and Freedom in American Poetry; four collections of poems, Other People, The Lions, El Dorado, and One Summer Evening at the Falls; and several monographs and catalog essays on modern and contemporary visual art. His work has appeared in publications including ARTNews, Boston Globe, Harvard Review, Kenyon Review, Modern Painters, New Republic, New York Times Book Review, Poetry, Sculpture, Slate, Threepenny Review and Yale Review, among others. A recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the Larry Levis Reading Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize, he teaches in the writing program at the University of Minnesota and serves as Executive Editor of Unbound Edition Press and co-host of the Authors Unbound Podcast.
“Because his language is so alive and spicy, Peter Campion can write about almost anything and make it memorable. His poems are equally at home in the cities of today and in the wreck we’ve made of nature. Reading him, you feel the whole weight of American poetry from Whitman through Hart Crane to Kenneth Koch, ennobling his lines and giving them both their form and their crackle.”
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Events
March 3, 2021. 4PM EST/3PM CST. John Berryman’s Selected Letters: A Transatlantic Celebration. Peter will moderate an online reading and discussion in appreciation of John Berryman. Information here.
March 4, 2021. 2 PM CST/3PM EST. AWP Conference. Peter will read poetry with Charles Bernstein and Jason Sommer. Conference registration required.
March 13, 2021. Release of One Summer Evening at the Falls. Peter’s fourth collection of poems will be published by the University of Chicago Press. Get it here.
March 2021. Peter will edit The Experiment Will Not Be Bound, an anthology to be published by Unbound Edition Press in 2022. The submission period for poetry, fiction, literary non-fiction, and mixed-genre writing is open now and will end on March 14. Submit here.
April 8, 2021. 5 PM CST/6 PM EST. Peter will read with Karen Fish and Jason Sommer in an online event sponsored by the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore, Chicago IL. Eventbrite link here.
April 21. 2021. “Creative Writing Faculty Books Celebration.” Peter will read in a Zoom webinar with Douglas Kearney, Kathryn Nuernberger, and Kim Todd. University of Minnesota, Department of English. 7PM CST/8PM EST. Information here.
April 29, 2021. “Reflections: Poetry Inspired by Music.” Peter will read in an online event along with poets Aviya Kushner, Robert Pinsky, Tim Seibles, Julie Sheehan, Rosanna Warren, and Tom Yuill, with music by musicians and composers Derek Bermel and Bruce Wolosoff. Information here.
June 3, 2021. “Wilder Words.” Peter will read online for the Fine Arts Work Center, along with Kim Addonizio, Elissa Altman, Nickole Brown, Tyler Mills, and Jennifer Jean. 6 pm CST/7 pm EST. Info here.
June 2021. “Going to the Source: A Poetry Workshop.” Peter will teach a one week course at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Enroll here.
July 2021. “Poetic Energy: A Poetry Workshop.” Peter will teach a one week course at the Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, MA. Enroll here.
August 2021. “Making the Familiar Strange and the Strange Familiar: A Conversation with Peter Campion.” Peter is interviewed by poet and critic Evan Goldstein for The Adroit Journal. Read here.
August 2021. “Poems that Linger: Peter Campion.” Poet and critic Patrick Davis’s review of One Summer at the Falls appears at Kenyon Review. Read here.
September 2021. Peter’s reviews of James Longenbach’s Forever and Christina Pugh’s Stardust Media are up at Kenyon Review.
October 16, 2021. Twin Cities Book Festival. Peter will read in the Book Festival. Information here.
November 15, 2021. “Poetry Reading: Atsuro Riley and Peter Campion.” Peter will read with Atsuro Riley in the Blacksmith House Poetry Series, online. 6:15 CST/7:15 EST. Info and registration here.
November 2021. Peter’s review of Atsuro Riley’s Heard-Hoard is up at the Adroit Journal.
January 2022. Peter is honored to be named Executive Editor at Unbound Edition Press.
April 23 & 24, 2022, Los Angeles Times Book Festival. Peter will read on the Poetry Stage at the festival.
August 2022, Between Fury and Peace, the Many Arts of Derek Walcott edited by Askold Melnyczuk is available for pre-order from Arrowsmith Press. With essays by Peter Balakian, Robert Bensen, Sven Birkerts, Peter Campion, Rachel DeWoskin, Zayd Ayers Dohrn, Martin Edmunds, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Carolyn Forché, Jonathan Galassi, Dan Hunter, Kirun Kapur, Karl Kirchwey, Adam Kirsch, John Robert Lee, Glyn Maxwell, Askold Melnyczuk, Caryl Phillips, Steven Ratiner, Eva Salzman, Bob Scanlan, Tom Sleigh, Kate Snodgrass, Jacob Strautmann, and Rosanna Warren.
October 23, 2022. Peter appears in the documentary Rediscovering John Berryman, which premiered on PBS on October 23rd and is now available through the PBS app.
November 15, 2022. Release of The Experiment Will Not Be Bound (Unbound Edition Press), an experimental anthology that Peter edited containing contemporary poems, essays, stories, photographs, and sound-poems. Order here.
November 30, 2022. The Experiment Will Not Be Bound has received a rave review from Kirkus calling it “A bold, build-your-own anthology with some impressive names and inspired pieces.”
January 12, 2023. Peter will read with poets Janna Knittel and Connie Wanek at Magers & Quinn Bookstore, Minneapolis, MN.
January 17, 2023. Peter will read with poets Wang Ping and Connie Wanek at the University Club in Saint Paul.
May 26, 2023. Peter appeared on Fox 9 News in the Twin Cities to discuss American poetry and the HB0 series “Succession” with reporter Mary McGuire.
July 10-14, 2023. “Poetic Energy.” Peter will teach a five-day, online course in poetry writing through the Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, MA. Info here.
September 2023. Five new poems of Peter’s are featured in the September issue of Plume.
October 9. 2023. “An Evening with Atsuro Riley and Friends.” Peter will appear with poets Atsuro Riley, Danielle Chapman, and Jesse Nathan at an event sponsored by Buxton Books. Unitarian Church. 4 Archdale St, Charleston, SC. 6pm. Info here.
November 2023. Peter has a new poem in the current issue of Poetry London.
December 2023. Peter’s review of Elizabeth Arnold’s Wave House is featured in the current issue of The Georgia Review.
February 2024. Peter’s essay on the poetry of Kay Ryan appears in the inaugural issue of REVEL.
February 2024. Peter has a new poem in the first issue of Divagations.
February 26, 2024. Peter’s review of David Thomson’s Remotely: Travels in the Binge of TV appears in the Los Angeles Review of Books.
June 10-14 2024. Peter will teach an online poetry-writing class, “Poetic Energy,” through the Castle Hill Center for the Arts. Sign up here.
Poetry
Co-edited with Philip Coleman, with Foreword by Paula Meehan, and Afterword by Henri Cole
