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David Rigsbee

b. 1949

American poet

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About David Rigsbee

Born 1949. David Rigsbee is an American literary critic, journalist and poet.

David Rigsbee (April 1, 1949) is an American poet, contributing editor and regular book reviewer for The Cortland Review, and literary critic. He served on the faculty at University of Mount Olive.

Career Rigsbee is the author of 20 books and chapbooks, including eleven full-length poetry collections. In addition to his poems, he has also published critical works on Carolyn Kizer and Joseph Brodsky. He has coedited two anthologies, including Invited Guest: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Southern Poetry, which was a ‘notable book’ selection of the American Library Association and the American Association of University Professors, and was featured on C-Span's Booknotes program. His work has appeared in many journals, including AGNI, American Poetry Review, the Georgia Review, the Iowa Review, the New Yorker, the Ohio Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Sewanee Review, and the Southern Review.

He served on the faculty at University of Mount Olive

Winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize, the 2009 Black River Poetry Prize, the Vachel Lindsay Poetry Award and the Pound Prize, Rigsbee was also 2010 winner of the Sam Ragan Award for contribution to the arts in North Carolina, as well as winner of the Oscar Young Award for the best book by a North Carolina author (for The Red Tower: New and Selected Poems, 2010) and the Black River Chapbook Poetry Prize for 2009. He has received two creative writing fellowships from the NEA, as well as fellowships from the NEH, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Virginia Commission on the Arts. He has also received residencies from the Djerassi Foundation and Jentel Foundation.

Rigsbee's most recent books are a collection of essays on contemporary poetry, Not Alone in My Dancing: Essays and Reviews, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2016 and This Much I Can Tell You, also by Black Lawrence Press, in 2017.

Personal life Rigsbee was married to artist Jill Bullitt, the daughter of poet Carolyn Kizer, for eighteen years before they divorced. He is now married to his wife Liz. He has one daughter.

Publications

Books

"This Much I Can Tell You (poems), Black Lawrence Press, 2017 "Not Alone in My Dancing: Essays and Reviews" (criticism) Black Lawrence Press, 2016 "School of the Americas" (poems) Black Lawrence Press, 2012 "The Red Tower: New and Selected Poems" (poems) NewSouth Books Two Estates (poems) Cherry Grove Collections, 2009 Cloud Journal (poems) Turning Point Books, 2008 The Dissolving Island (poems) BkMk Press, University of Missouri at Kansas City, 2003 Invited Guest: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Southern Poetry University of Virginia Press, 2001 Styles of Ruin: Joseph Brodsky and the Postmodernist Elegy (criticism) Greenwood Press, 1999 A Skeptic's Notebook: Longer Poems St. Andrews Press, 1997 Trailers (prose) The University of Virginia Press, 1996 Your Heart Will Fly Away (poems) The Smith, 1992 An Answering Music: On the Poetry of Carolyn Kizer (criticism) Ford-Brown & Co., 1990 The Hopper Light (poems) L'Epervier Press, 1988 The Ardis Anthology of New American Poetry Ardis, 1977 Stamping Ground (poems) Ardis Publishers, 1976

Chapbooks, Broadsides, and Miscellaneous "The Pilot House (poems) Black Lawrence Press, 2009 Seen From Above, catalogue, Philip Govedare (painter), Francine Cedars Gallery, Seattle, 2008 Sonnets to Hamlet Pudding House, 2004 Greatest Hits: 1975 - 2000 Pudding House, 2001 Scenes on an Obelisk Pudding House, 2000 To Be Here Coraddi Chapbook, 1980 "Only Heaven," Willow Springs Broadsheet, 1993 “Crickets,” Georgia Review broadside, 1985 Poetry-in-Motion #7, Nobodaddy Press, 1977

Translations

Collected Poems in English. 2000 by Joseph Brodsky (poems translated with others), edited by Ann Kjellberg, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000 A Part of Speech by Joseph Brodsky, Farrar, Straus & Giroux,1980 Poems of Mikhail Lermontov in Russian Romanticism Ardis, 1984

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Important facts

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Frequently asked questions

Who is David Rigsbee?

American poet

When was David Rigsbee born?

David Rigsbee was born on 1 April 1949 in United States.

What is David Rigsbee's occupation?

David Rigsbee is a literary critic, journalist and poet.

What nationality is David Rigsbee?

David Rigsbee is American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: David Rigsbee

· Wikidata: Q5239066

· DBpedia: David Rigsbee

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). David Rigsbee. https://biography.guide/david-rigsbee/

MLA: "David Rigsbee." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/david-rigsbee/.

Chicago: "David Rigsbee." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/david-rigsbee/.

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