BENJAMIN VOGT [email protected] bevogt.

com

EDUCATION Ph.D. Poetry & Creative Nonfiction, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009 Dissertation #1 (Poetry) Afterimage Dissertation #2 (Memoir) Morning Glory: A Story of Family and Culture in the Garden Committee Members: Grace Bauer (chair), Hilda Raz, Ted Kooser, John Janovy Jr. M.F.A. Poetry, The Ohio State University, 2003 Committee Members: David Citino (chair), Andrew Hudgins B.F.A. Creative Writing and Literature, French Minor, University of Evansville, 1999 Study Abroad, Harlaxton College, England, Spring 1997

BOOK PUBLICATIONS Afterimage: Poems. Stephen F. Austin State University Press (full length, 2012). From Oklahoma to Minnesota, Ohio to Nebraska, Vogt traces his life through the echo of his ancestors who settled the southern Plains in the 1800s. With poems based on black and white family photographs, past stories seep out from the worn edges. In a rich array of forms and evocative imagery, the poems in Afterimage reach through prairie history until grass becomes skin, and light becomes shadow. Without Such Absence: Poems. Finishing Line Press, 2010 (chapbook). Indelible Marks: Poems. Pudding House, 2004 (chapbook).

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION & REVIEW Morning Glory: A Story of Family and Culture in the Garden (memoir). When a quiet relationship between mother and son meets in the garden, her past confronts his future. Sleep, Creep, Leap: The First Three Years of a Nebraska Garden (essays / prose poems). After a small patio garden at the authors last home teases him into avid tinkering, the blank canvas of a new marriage and quarter acre lot prove to be a rich place full of delight, anguish, and rapture. Full of lyrical, humorous, and botanical short essays, Sleep, Creep, Leap will leave you inspired to sit a while with your plants, noticing how the smallest events become the largestand how the garden brings us down to earth so that we can come home to our lives.

Turkey Red (memoir). An estranged son of Oklahoma traces his Mennonite roots through the echo of his grandmothers diaries. The culture and history of Plains Indians, German settlers, and prairie wildlife lead the author into Americas frontier legacya wound left unhealed until family is discovered again through the vanishing landscapes around us.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE Adjunct Professor, Doane College, 2012-present English 237 Introduction to Fiction (3 sections) Late 20th century novels, short stories, micro fiction, graphic novels, films, fieldtrips. Authors include Anthony Doerr, Tim OBrien, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Ander Monson, among others. English 206 World Literature II Survey of world literature from the enlightenment to modernism. Poetry, fiction, plays, dime store novels, advertising, music, photography, and film. Lecturer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2010-present English 353 Advanced Poetry Writing Upper level course focusing on received and nonce forms. English 303 Short Story (2 sections) Literature survey looking at the short story genre in the late 20th century, from Paul Yoon to Jhumpa Lahiri, Anthony Doerr, Lorrie Moore, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and various forms such as micro fiction and the graphic novel. Students also write reflective personal and academic short essays. English 254 Writing and Communities An introductory composition course (creative nonfiction) for non-major upperclassman. Authors read include: Tim OBrien, Dorothy Allison, James Wright, and Linda Hogan. English 252 Fiction Writing Introductory course in short story and novella writing. English 250 Introduction to Creative Writing Writing poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, with small group and class workshops. Emphasis placed on imagery, character / scene, and reflective research. English 150H Honors Writing Rhetoric First year honors composition exploring creative nonfiction while reading novels, memoirs, essays, and poetry. Students write personal and academic short essays along with longer midterm and final papers while participating in several field trips. English 150 Writing Rhetoric (2 sections) First year composition taught as intro to creative nonfiction while reading several genres to learn techniques such as description, reflection, research, and punctuation. Authors include Tim OBrien, Rafael Campo, Dorothy Allison, Linda Hogan, and Joy Williams.

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Teaching Assistant, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2005-2009 English 353 Advanced Poetry Writing Upper level workshop with special focus placed on formal experimentation. English 302A Poets Since 1945 Literature survey of post war American poetry schools, including highlighted work from Whitman and Modernism to the Beats, New York School, Deep Imagists, Avant Garde, New Formalists, and others. Includes craft essays by key writers from each school, as well as criticism and theory. English 254 Writing and Communities Upper level composition course for non majors, taught as place-based / environmental course, writing creative nonfiction essays & reading work by published eco authors. English 253 Writing Poetry Workshop with special emphasis placed on using form & knowing prosodic terminology (including a midterm on such). English 250 Introduction to Creative Writing (2 sections) Writing poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, with small group and class workshops. Emphasis placed on imagery, character / scene, and reflective research. English 180 Introduction to Literature (2 sections) Survey on various forms of literature for non English majors. "Literature" is defined as poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, graphic novel, comics, film, music, local art galleries, natural history museums, and grated cheese containers. English 150 Writing Rhetoric (2 sections) Course on writing academic essays and creative nonfiction, using the works of published novelists and essayists as models for structure, technique, and reflection. English 101 Writing from Literature (3 sections) A freshman composition course taught as writing creative nonfiction, while reading the works of poets, novelists, and essayists as examples for student writing. Adjunct Professor, Doane College, 2004-2005 English 202 Introduction to Writing Poetry Beginning workshop with focus on learning formal / prosodic terminology. English 101 Writing Seminar (2 sections) Freshman composition taught as intro to creative nonfiction. Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University, 2000-2003 English 367.01 Second Year Composition, The U.S. Experience (2 sections) Upperclass composition taught thematically: Tourists in a Native Land (travel writing) and In Country: Vietnam and Contemporary Violence in American Writing English 266 Writing Poetry I

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Introductory course to writing poetry with emphasis placed on reviewing literary journals and attending local readings. English 110L FYC Literature Emphasis (3 sections) Freshman composition taught as intro to creative nonfiction while reading novels / essay collections by published authors. English 110 First Year Composition (3 sections) Freshman composition taught as intro to creative nonfiction workshop.

ANTHOLOGY / TEXTBOOK PUBLICATIONS Interview: Wandering Research. The "Backwards" Research Guide for Writers of Creative Nonfiction: Using Your Life for Reflection, Connection, and Inspiration. Ed. Sonya Huber. Equinox, 2011. "Japanese Garden" (prose poem). Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes. Eds. Chad Prevost & Ryan Van Cleave. C&R Press, 2009. "Compatible," and "Flat Tire" (poems). Diagram: The Second Print Anthology. Ed. Ander Monson. Del Sol Press, 2006. July, Just Outside of Columbus (poem). FlatCity: An Anthology. Eds. Adam Cole, Kelly McGuinness, and Betsy Wheeler. Columbus: FlatCity Press, 2005. Portraiture at Blanks Photography, Rural KissOklahoma, 1944, July Just Outside of Columbus, and Section 117, Plot 21 (poems). Anthology One. Ed. Jaimes Alsop. Delaware: Alsop Review Press, 2004. "Uncle with LandscapeKansas, 1954" (poem). Red, White, and Blues: Poets on the Promise of America. Eds. Virgil Suarez and Ryan G. Van Cleave. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2004. JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS POETRY RetirementCalifornia, 1971 (poem). The Midwest Quarterly. (Vol. 52, #4, Summer 2011). A Geologists Love (poem). Subtropics (#11 / 12, Winter / Spring 2011). Grandpa Vogts1959 (poem). American Life in Poetry (#247, December 2009). "Little Deep CreekOklahoma, 1984" (poem). Hayden's Ferry Review (#42, Spring / Summer 2008). Wichita, 1938 and Family ReunionPhotograph, 1962 (poems). Quiddity (Volume 1.1, 2008).

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"Portraiture at Blanks PhotographyWeatherford 1978" and "Rural Kiss" (poems). Poemeleon (Summer 2007). "De-incarnation of a Back Page Story" (poem). Fugue (#31, Summer / Fall 2006). "Planting" (poem). Rock River Times (Fall 2006). "Suddenly Autumn" (poem). Puerto del Sol (Volume 41, #1, Spring 2006). "Loving Apparitions on High Street" and "Miscarriage" (poems). Ellipsis (Volume 42, Spring 2006). "Hammer" (poem). M Review (2006). "How We Came to Be Here" (poem). Anthropology and Humanism (Volume 31, #2, December 2006). "Spider," "Mound City, IA," and "Photo of Grandpa and 155mm HowitzerKorea, 1953" (poems). The Litchfield Review (Volume 3, #1,Winter 2006). The Whale (poem). Ginger Hill (Volume 42, 2005). "An Evening Porch" (poem). Diagram (Issue 5.3, Summer 2005). Compatible and Flat Tire (poems). Diagram (Issue 4.5, Fall 2004). Section 117, Plot 21 (poem). Verse Daily (January 25, 2004). A Suburban Affair (poem). The Cream City Review (Volume 28.1). Boys Quartet1949 (poem). The Alsop Review (Winter 2004). "Sundays--Clinton, OK" (poem). Southern Indiana Review (Winter 2004). "Dreaming Ill" (poem). Poetry Midwest (Number 9, Winter 2004). "Section 117, Plot 21" (poem). Wind Magazine (Fall 2003). "Uncle with Landscape--Kansas, 1954" (poem). Valparaiso Poetry Review (Volume 5, Number 1, Fall / Winter 2003-2004). "Still Life Refracted" (poem). Portland Review (50.2, 2003). "Indelible Marks" and "Pre-Elegy to My Mother" (poems). The Adirondack Review (Summer 2003).

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My Father Visits the Homeplace (poem). Diagram (Issue 3.2, 2003). "After a Night Class at OSU" (poem). Oyez Review (2003). "Ode to Car Barbie" (poem). Hooked (2003). Rising Up from Mulberry Street, Unemployed on a Summer Porch in Marysville, OH, A Call to Arms (poems). Segue (Fall 2002). "All That Was Said About the Korean War" (poem). Harpur Palate (Volume 2.2). "Between Failed Drafts, I Pray" (poem). Front Range Review (Spring 2002). "Neighbors in 2368" (poem). The Comstock Review (Volume 15.2, 2001). "Crazy Cattle" and "Grocery Store Cashier" (poems). Small Spiral Notebook (November, 2001). "Why I Hate Bagels" (poem). Front Range Review (Spring 2001). "Coming Up With Excuses" (poem). The Evansville Review (Volume 11, 2001). "Self Portrait" and "Falling Asleep" (poems). The Evansville Review (Volume 9, 1999). "Indian Man" (poem). Allegheny Review (Volume 16, 1998). JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS NONFICTION Heavenly, Garden Spider, and Twilight Geese in Autumn Prime Number (forthcoming). Hummingbird 1966: A Journal of Creative Nonfiction (forthcoming). Across the Flats Superstition Review (Issue 9, Spring 2012). 650 Crocus Bulbs Souwester (Spring 2012).
Dogfight The Sun (Issue 428, August 2011).

Sandhill Cranes: Grand Island, Nebraska (creative nonfiction / photo). Orion Magazine. (July / August 2011). Native Plants + One Suburban Lot = Wildlife Preserve Prairie Fire: The Progressive Voice of the Great Plains (June, 2011).

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"The Lion's Tooth" ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Literature (17.3, Summer 2010): Monarch Butterflies: The Last Migration Prairie Fire: The Progressive Voice of the Great Plains (July, 2010). "Afterimage" Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature (2010). "Some Sense of Home" Platte Valley Review (2010). "Her Garden" Sou'wester (Spring 2009). "The Bumbling Gardener" Amoskeag (Vol. 26, #1, Spring 2009). "The Deep Middle" Crab Orchard Review (Volume 11, #1, Winter / Spring 2006). JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS PHOTOGRAPHY FlorigraphyA Photo Essay Sweet: A Literary Confection (Summer 2011).

EDITORIAL / ADMINISTRATIVE / FREELANCE WRITING EXPERIENCE Columnist, Houzz.com, 2012-present Write a monthly freelance column giving advice on central Great Plains gardening, design, native plants, and organic gardening techniques. Houzz is a leading architectural, interior, and exterior design idea website with over seven million monthly users. Literary Contest Coordinator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2010 Manage annual English Department literary writing awards. Advertise and gather undergraduate and graduate student entries, set up faculty judging, organize winner reading and awards ceremony, implement new program of publishing undergraduate winners online and in print. Graduate Associate, Student Involvement, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2003-2005 Work in Information Strategies department as an assistant art director managing staff of six undergraduate web designers, graphic designers, and administrators creating marketing strategies and promotional material for campus and university-affiliated student events. Write copy and edit web / print designs. Give presentations on SIs programs to incoming freshman and to upperclassmen. Oversee complete website redesign in 2005. Win regional marketing award from IABC (International Association of Business Communicators).

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Graduate Administrative Associate, Professor David Citino, Ohio State, 2002-2003 Coordinate manuscript reading for the Ohio State Press / The Journal book award in poetry. Emcee and run the graduate student / faculty creative reading series. Facilitate authors on the Ohio Poetry Circuit. Editor-in-Chief, Senior Literary Journal, University of Evansville, 1998-1999 Redesign and edit annual English department publication. Select and coordinate staff of four editors. Obtain funding from university committees. Poetry Editor, The Evansville Review, University of Evansville, 1997-1998 Select and edit work for the national literary journal and oversee reading staff. Solicit work from authors and write contributors section. Intern, New Rivers Press, 1997 Prepare promotional mailings, fulfill book orders, arrange national author readings, write grant proposals.

AWARDS / GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS National: Vermont Studio Center Artist's Grant (nonfiction), 2011. Ropewalk Writers Retreat full scholarship (nonfiction), 2010. Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund poetry grant, 2009. Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund poetry grant, 2006. Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize, Wind Magazine, 1st place, 2003. National Looking Glass chapbook contest, Pudding House, 2nd place, 2003.

University: Certificate of Recognition for Contribution to Students, UNL, 2010-11. UNL Graduate Studies Fellowship, 2008-2009. Frederick A. Stuff Memorial Dissertation Fellowship, UNL English Dept, 2007-08. Course release awarded to Ph.D. candidates for excellence in scholarship, one of four recipients. Frank and Marie Wheeler Fellowship, UNL Graduate Studies, 2007-2008.

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Louise VanSickle Fellowship in creative writing, UNL, 2005-06. Awarded annually to one of two writers in the Ph.D. program. Wilbur and Elizabeth Gaffney Travel Fellowship, UNL, 2004 and 2006. Weldon Kees Scholarship, Nebraska Summer Writers Conference, 2005. Gaffney-Academy of American Poets Award, UNL, 2nd place, 2005 & 2009. English Departmental Travel Fellowship, Ohio State University, 2002 and 2003. English Departmental Scholarship, University of Evansville, 1995-1999.

HONORS Nominated for Pushcart Prize, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. Black Lawrence Press, St. Lawrence poetry book award, finalist (1 of 12), 2010. C&R Press De Novo poetry book award, finalist (1 of 4), 2010. Creative Nonfiction best narrative blog post, issue 42, finalist, 2010. Black Lawrence Press Book Award, semifinalist (poetry), 2010. Black River / Black Lawrence Press chapbook contest, finalist, 2010. Spring Garden Press Robert Watson Chapbook Award, finalist, 2008 & 2009. Midnight Sun chapbook contest, finalist, 2009. Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Arts and Sciences Student Advisory Board (UNL), nomination, 2009. Nominated by poemeleon for the anthology Best New Poets (Meridian), 2008. The Journal Flash Prose Writing Contest (creative nonfiction), runner up, 2008. Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund, finalist, 2007. Poetry manuscript Afterimage, top 30 / 1,000 in Tupelo Press's annual open reading period, 2006. Don Russ Poetry Prize, Kennesaw Review, finalist, 2006. Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book Prize, semi-finalist, 2005. Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry, Nimrod / Hardman Awards, semi-finalist, 2005. Nominated for the John W. Robinson Prize (best English graduate student critical essay), UNL, 2005. Elizabeth Curry Poetry Contest, Ginger Hill, finalist, 2005. Nominated in creative nonfiction for the AWP Intro Journals Project, UNL, 2005. Fineline competition for prose poems, Mid-American Review, semi-finalist, 2004. Vogt CV 9

Stadler Fellowship, Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell University, finalist, 2003. New Michigan Press / Diagram mixed-genre (poetry / nonfiction) chapbook contest, finalist, 2003.

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS "Variations: "Minority" Poets Rewriting Identity Through Received Forms." Midwest Modern Language Association. Minneapolis, MN. November 13-16, 2008. "Ecofeminism and Ceremony in Linda Hogans DwellingsTo Heal the Bodies of Earth." Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association. Boston, MA. April 4-7, 2007. "Literature in the College Composition Classroom: Pleasure, Community, Process, Efficacy." Midwest Modern Language Association. Chicago, IL. November 9-12, 2006. "Language as Sacred Land in the Midst of Ecological Diaspora: Vine Deloria Jr. and N. Scott Momaday." College English Association. San Antonio, TX. April 6-8, 2006.

SELECTED CREATIVE READINGS UNL English Ph.D. Alumni Reading. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, February, 2011. Without Such Absence book release reading. Indigo Bridge Books, Lincoln, NE. November, 2010. No Name Reading Series. Annual creative nonfiction and poetry readings. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2003-2009. 2005 Nebraska Book Festival. Invited poetry reading. Nebraska Wesleyan University. Lincoln, Nebraska. October 8, 2005. University of Kansas. The American Family. Poetry reading and session moderator, 2005 New Literacies Conference: Writing, Teaching, Performing America. March 3-5, 2005. Doane College. Invited poetry reading. Crete, Nebraska. February 23, 2005. Lincoln High School. Invited poetry reading and craft discussion. Lincoln, NE. April 22, 2004.

SERVICE Search Committee, 20th Century Poetry / Criticism, UNL English Dept, 2008-2009. Volunteer, Prairie Schooner, The Association of Writers and Writing Programs

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Conference in New York City, 2008 and Chicago, 2009. Volunteer, Nebraska Summer Writers Conference, 2006 and 2007. Introduce readers, set up readings, shuttle writers to events. Volunteer, University of Nebraska Press Hurt Book Sale, 2004-2006. Reader, Prairie Schooner Book Prize Series in Poetry, 2005-2009. (Forwarded the eventual winner, Taste of Cherry by Kara Candito, 2008). Editorial Assistant, Prairie Schooner, UNL, 2003-2006. Reader, Ohio State Press / The Journal Book Award in Poetry, 2001-2003. Reader, The Journal, Ohio State, 2000-2001.

TEACHING / ACADEMIC INTERESTS Modern, postmodern, and contemporary American poetry New formalism / expansive poetry Deep imagism Literary translation Vietnam War literature and film Visual & performing arts as literature Native American literature Ecocriticism, ecoliterature, ecofeminism Garden literature The "greening" of global religions Creative nonfiction: travelogue, memoir, personal essay, lyric essay, micro essay Midwest / Plains literature Mennonite Germans from Russia immigration to Great Plains

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