Lucia Maria Perillo (September 30, 1958 – October 16, 2016) was an American poet.[1]

In 2000, Perillo was recognized with a "genius grant" as part of the MacArthur Fellows Program.[2]

Life and career edit

Perillo was born in Manhattan on September 30, 1958[3] and grew up in Irvington.[4]

Her work appeared in The New Yorker,[5] The Atlantic and The Kenyon Review,[6] among other magazines. A traditional poet of mostly free-verse personal reflection, she wrote extensively about living with multiple sclerosis in her poems and essays.[7] Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones was her last book of poetry (Copper Canyon Press, 2016). Her 2012 collection of short fiction, Happiness is a Chemical in the Brain, was shortlisted for the 2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. She died on October 16, 2016, in Olympia, Washington, aged 58.[4][8]

Awards edit

Bibliography edit

Poetry edit

Collections
  • Dangerous life. Northeastern University Press. 1989.
  • The Body Mutinies. Purdue University Press. 1996. ISBN 978-1-55753-083-7.
  • The Oldest Map with the Name America: New and Selected Poems. Random House. 1999. ISBN 978-0-375-50160-9.
  • Luck is luck: poems. Random House, Inc. 2005. ISBN 9781400063239.
  • Inseminating the Elephant. Copper Canyon Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-55659-291-1.
  • On the Spectrum of Possible Deaths. Copper Canyon Press. 2012. ISBN 978-1-55659-397-0.
  • Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones. Copper Canyon Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-55659-473-1
List of poems
Title Year First published Reprinted/collected
Blacktail 2014 "Blacktail". The New Yorker. 90 (24): 33. August 25, 2014.
The News (A Manifesto) 1986 "The News (A Manifesto)"[13] Ploughshares Issue 41 Winter 1986 Dangerous Life (1989), Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones (2016)[14]
First Job/Seventeen 1986 "First Job/Seventeen" Ploughshares Vol 12, No. 4 1986 Dangerous Life (1989), Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones (2016)[14]
Dangerous Life 1989 "Dangerous Life" Dangerous Life 1989[15] Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones (2016)[14]
The Revelation 1989 "The Revelation" Dangerous Life 1989[15] Time Will Clean the Carcass Bones (2016)[14]

Non-fiction edit

Fiction edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Poet and novelist Lucia Perillo dies at 58". yahoo.com. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  2. ^ Langer, Emily. "Lucia Perillo, poet who unflinchingly dissected mortality, dies at 58", The Washington Post, October 25, 2016. Accessed October 27, 2016. "A decade into her career, and after the publication of two more poetry volumes, she received a 2000 MacArthur fellowship, commonly known as a 'genius grant.'"
  3. ^ Mark Doty (18 September 2012). The Best American Poetry 2012: Series Editor David Lehman. Simon and Schuster. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-4391-8154-6.
  4. ^ a b Gates, Anita. "Lucia Perillo, Whose Illness Shaped Her Poetry, Dies at 58", The New York Times, October 25, 2016. Accessed October 26, 2016. "Lucia Maria Perillo was born on Sept. 30, 1958, in Manhattan and grew up in suburban Irvington, N.Y."
  5. ^ "New Yorker Search". newyorker.com. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  6. ^ "Search for "lucia perillo" - The Kenyon Review". kenyonreview.org. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  7. ^ Perillo, Lucia (2007). I've Heard the Vultures Singing. San Antonio: Trinity University. ISBN 978-1-59534-031-3.
  8. ^ "Poet and novelist Lucia Perillo dies at 58 |". Archived from the original on 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  9. ^ Meet the Class of 2000: Lucia M. Perillo, MacArthur Fellows Program. Accessed October 27, 2016. "Lucia Perillo is a young poet whose signature voice is marked by an urban speed and a narrative style driven by characterization and drama."
  10. ^ Copper Canyon Press
  11. ^ John Williams (January 14, 2012). "National Book Critics Circle Names 2012 Award Finalists". The New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  12. ^ "2013 Pacific Northwest Book Awards Announced", NW Book Loves, January 7, 2013. Accessed October 27, 2016. "The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, the indie bookstore booster behind this blog, announced the winners of their annual book awards today. Congratulations are in order for... Lucia Perillo (Olympia, WA) for On the Spectrum of Possible Deaths"
  13. ^ "The News (A Manifesto) | Ploughshares". www.pshares.org. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  14. ^ a b c d Perillo, Lucia (18 April 2017). Time will clean the carcass bones : selected and new poems. Copper Canyon Press. ISBN 978-1-55659-502-8. OCLC 959037464.
  15. ^ a b Perillo, Lucia (1989). Dangerous Life.

External links edit