Cynthia Macdonald

Cynthia Macdonald

Cynthia Lee Macdonald (February 2, 1928 – August 3, 2015) was an American poet.^[1] She is the mother of American artist Jennifer Macdonald.

Life

She was a member of the board of directors of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs.^[2]

She wrote the libretto for The Rehearsal (1978), an opera by Thomas Benjamin.^[3]

She co-founded, with Stanley Plumly, the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston in 1979. She was a member of the English Department until her retirement in the mid-2000s, receiving the Esther Farfel Award for faculty excellence along the way.

Awards

• Three NEA grants (two for poetry and one for a libretto) ^[4][5]
• Guggenheim Fellowship ^[6]
• National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters award
• O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize^[7]

Works

• "Discomfiting the Absolute Splendor", Poetry Foundation
• "The Impossible May Be Possible", Ploughshares (Spring 1999)

Books

• Macdonald, Cynthia (June 1972). Amputations: Poems. George Braziller. ISBN 0-8076-0656-1.
• Macdonald, Cynthia (April 1977). Transplants: Poems. George Braziller. ISBN 0-8076-0810-6.
• Macdonald, Cynthia (1980-01-01). (W)Holes. NY: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated. ISBN 0-394-50852-1.
• Macdonald, Cynthia (1985-09-12). Alternate Means of Transport. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-72968-4.
• Macdonald, Cynthia (1992-11-03). Living Wills: New and Selected Poems. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-74278-6.
• Macdonald, Cynthia (1997-01-01). I Can't Remember. Alfred a Knopf Inc. ISBN 0679454578.

References

1. "Cynthia MacDonald - Obituary - New York, NY". New York Times. August 16, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
2. "Cynthia MacDonald -- 3rd Annual Literary Festival -- Old Dominion University -- Sept 29-30; Oct 1-2, 1980". odu.edu.
3. "Cynthia Macdonald". Encyclopedia Britannica.
4. http://www3.wooster.edu/ArtfulDodge/interviews/macdonald.htm Archived May 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-19. Retrieved 2009-11-19. Nothing at website for "Cynthia MacDonald" per search there. [http://www.webcitation.org/5lOncIM6C?url=http://www.nea.gov/pub/nea_lit.pdf "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-19. Retrieved 2009-11-19. Archived] July 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
6. http://www.gf.org/fellows/9167-cynthia-macdonald org Archived June 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
7. http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=968 Archived May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

• Daniel Bourne (March 30, 1990). "A Conversation With Cynthia Macdonald". Artful Dodge.
• "Cynthia Macdonald." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 18 Nov. 2009