University of Iowa News Release

April 10, 2006

UI Writers' Workshop Faculty Member Cole Swensen Is 2006 Guggenheim Fellow

Poet Cole Swensen, a faculty member in the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, has been selected to be a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow. The fellowship will support her research and writing of a book about ghost stories, to be titled "Gravesend."

"I'm thrilled and really looking forward to working on this project, and thank them for providing the means to do so," Swensen said. "This will provide me with the time to do research and writing in both England and in France."

Results of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation's 82nd annual United States and Canadian competition were announced April 6 by foundation president Edward Hirsch. The 2006 winners include 187 artists, scholars, and scientists selected from almost 3,000 applicants for awards totaling $7.5 million.

Swensen's new volume is "The Book of a Hundred Hands," published by the University of Iowa Press Kuhl House Poets series. Her other books of poetry include "Try," winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize; "Such Rich Hour," which was also published by the UI Press and won the Poetry Center Book Award; "Noon," winner of the New American Poetry Series Award"; "New Math," winner of the National Poetry Series award; and "Goest."

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was established in 1925 by U.S. Sen. Simon Guggenheim and his wife as a memorial to a son who died in  1922. The foundation offers fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation. Over the years, the foundation has awarded more than $247 million to more than 16,000 individuals.

What distinguishes the Guggenheim Fellowship program from all others, and plays a role in its prestige, is the wide range in interest, age, geography and institution of those it selects as it considers applications in 78 different fields, from the natural sciences to the creative arts.

The Writers' Workshop is a graduate program in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

For UI arts information and calendar updates, visit http://www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa. To receive UI arts news by e-mail, ur-acr@uiowa.edu.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa Arts Center Relations, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 351, Iowa City, IA 52242-2500.

MEDIA CONTACT: Winston Barclay, 319-384-0073, winston-barclay@uiowa.edu