department of english
professor of English
Meet CURTIS l. crisler
Professor of English
Curtis L. Crisler is the Indiana Poet Laureate and professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne. He is a published poet, author and essayist. Crisler is the author of numerous poetry collections, including THe GReY aLBuM [PoeMS] (Steel Toe Books, 2018), winner of the Steel Toe Books Open Reading Period Prize; Don’t Moan So Much (Stevie): A Poetry Musiquarium (Kattywompus Press, 2016); “This” Ameri-can-ah (Cherry Castle Publishing, 2015); Pulling Scabs (Willow Books/Aquarius Press, 2009), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize; Black Achilles (Accents Publishing, 2015); Wonderkind (Aquarius Press/Willow Books), which was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize; Soundtrack to Latchkey Boy (Finishing Line Press, 2012); and Spill (Keyhole Press, 2008), which won a Keyhole Chapbook Award.
Crisler is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, Cave Canem, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), among others. In addition to numerous prizes, including the RHINO Poetry Founder’s Prize, he was also nominated for the Eliot Rosewater Book Award (Rosie Award), and a Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Award.
EDUCATION
M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts), Poetry (2004), Southern Illinois University Carbondale
B.A., English Writing, Purdue University Fort Wayne
COURSES TAUGHT AT PURDUE FORT WAYNE
Undergraduate
ENGL 20302: Creative Writing—Fiction/Poetry
ENGL 23301: Intermediate Expository Writing
ENGL 23401: Technical Report Writing
ENGL 30103: Writing Fiction
ENGL 30401: Contemporary African American Poetry Forms
ENGL 40101: Creative Writing—Advanced Fiction Writing
ENGL 40501: Creative Writing: Writing Prose—Creative Nonfiction
ENGL 41402: Using Poems to Beat Death (Finding Poetry to Live)
ENGL 40501: Creative Writing: Writing Prose—Creative Nonfiction
Graduate
ENGL 51101: Creative Writing: Writing Prose—Creative Nonfiction
ENGL 51402: Using Poems to Beat Death (Finding Poetry to Live)
ENGL 55701: The Performance of Poetry—Finding Where Poems Live
