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Mary Szybist

b. 1970

American poet (born 1970)

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About Mary Szybist

Born 1970. Mary Szybist is an American poet, writer and professor.

Mary Szybist (born 20 September 1970) is an American poet. She won the National Book Award for Poetry for her collection Incarnadine.

Life She grew up in Pennsylvania, earned her B.A. and M.T. (Master of Teaching) from the University of Virginia, and attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was a Teaching-Writing Fellow.

Szybist's Incarnadine (Graywolf Press, 2013) was the recipient of the 2013 National Book Award for Poetry, and her collection Granted (Alice James Books, 2003) won the 2003 Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books and the 2004 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award, and was a finalist for the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. In a feature on NBCCA poetry finalists, the Christian Science Monitor wrote:

Szybist's poetry has appeared in Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, AGNI, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry, Tin House, and The Kenyon Review, and The Best American Poetry 2008.

Szybist is an associate professor of English at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and a faculty member at the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. She also has taught at Kenyon College, the University of Iowa, the Tennessee Governor’s School for Humanities, the University of Virginia’s Young Writers’ Workshop, and West High School in Iowa City.

Honors and awards 2019 Laureate of The George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize for Journalism, Arts & Letters 2013 National Book Award for Poetry 2009 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship 2009 Witter Bynner Fellowship 2004 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist 2002 Beatrice Hawley Award 1996 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award Academy of American Poets Prize

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Important facts

Birth century
Education
University of Virginia, Bachelor of Arts, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Master of Arts in Teaching
Employers
Lewis & Clark College
Awards
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; National Book Award for Poetry; Beatrice Hawley Award; Witter Bynner Fellowship; Guggenheim Fellowship; National Book Award

People in Mary Szybist's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Mary Szybist's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Mary Szybist?

American poet (born 1970)

When was Mary Szybist born?

Mary Szybist was born on 20 September 1970 in Williamsport.

What is Mary Szybist's occupation?

Mary Szybist is a poet, writer and professor.

What nationality is Mary Szybist?

Mary Szybist is American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Mary Szybist

· Wikidata: Q6780804

· DBpedia: Mary Szybist

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Mary Szybist. https://biography.guide/mary-szybist/

MLA: "Mary Szybist." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/mary-szybist/.

Chicago: "Mary Szybist." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/mary-szybist/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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