About Charlotte Mandel

Each new poem on the page astonishes me as a voice to which I must listen. A poem, story or essay will live apart, independent of my nurture. And for me, the challenge begins afresh, to articulate the experience of muteness. Until midlife, my working identity was entirely that of wife-mother-daughter, a role attached to the needs of others. I still value those parts of my identity, but incorporate them into my work as poet, editor, teacher, and independent scholar.

Metaphor can be a magical key to discovery and communication, or a word game of hide and seek. A poem must be uncompromisingly honest for it to work.

Profession

Poet, Editor, Literature and Creative Writing Teacher, Poetry Manuscript Consultant

Education

M. A., English and Comparative Literature, Montclair State University
B. A., Brooklyn College

Publications

Books of poetry:

  • ALIVE AND IN USE: POEMS IN THE JAPANESE FORM OF HAIBUN, Kelsay Books, 2019.
  • TO BE THE DAYLIGHT, Kelsay Books, 2017.
  • THROUGH A GARDEN GATE with color photographs by Vincent Covello,
    David Robert Books, 2015.
  • LIFE WORK, David Robert Books, 2013.
  • ROCK VEIN SKY, Midmarch Arts Press, 2008.
  • SIGHT LINES, poems, Midmarch Arts Press, 1998.
  • THE MARRIAGES OF JACOB, a poem-novella, Micah Publications, 1991.
  • KEEPING HIM ALIVE, poems, Silver Apples Press, 1990.
    - Selected for reading at 20th Century Literature Conference, Univ. of Louisville, 1998.
  • THE LIFE OF MARY, a poem-novella, with introduction by Sandra M. Gilbert, Saturday Press, 1998.
    - Audiocassette reading of entire book by author, with musical interweave by composer-guitarist David Hauer, 1993.
    - Stage adaptation, Bill Bace Gallery, New York City, May 1990.
  • DOLL, a long poem, Salt-Works Press, 1986.
  • A DISC OF CLEAR WATER, poems, Saturday Press, 1981.

Books edited:

  • SATURDAY’S WOMEN: Eileen W. Barnes Award Anthology, Co-edited by Rachel Hadas and Maxine Silverman, 1982.
  • I COULD SEE THE RAINBOW ON MY PILLOW: Poems in Conversation with David deLeeuw, 1980. Collection achieved with disabled student, age 12.

Poems in magazines and anthologies:

IOWA REVIEW; SENECA REVIEW; NIMROD; WEST BRANCH; PRAIRIE SCHOONER; RIVER STYX, CALLIOPE; NEW MILLENIUM WRITINGS; INNISFREE POETRY JOURNAL; SALT; FULCRUM; JOURNAL OF NEW JERSEY POETS; MEZZO CAMMIN; BIGGER THAN THEY APPEAR: ANTHOLOGY OF VERY SHORT POEMS; VERSE WISCONSIN, many others.

Short fiction:

INDIANA REVIEW; MISSISSIPPI VALLEY REVIEW; CONFRONTATION; CLOCKWATCH REVIEW; GREENFIELD REVIEW; BROOKLYN LITERARY REVIEW; SHORT FICTION BY WOMEN; TRIPLOPIA; others.

Critical Essays:

“The Cinematics of H.D.’s Poetry” in APPROACHES TO TEACHING H.D.’S POETRY AND PROSE (Modern Language Association, 2011)

WOMEN’S STUDIES; LITERATURE/FILM QUARTERLY; H.D. NEWSLETTER; ENGLISH LITERATURE IN TRANSITION; H.D.: WOMAN AND POET; A HOUSE OF GATHERING: POETS ON THE POETRY OF MAY SARTON; A CELEBRATION OF MAY SARTON; others.

Poetry Reviewer:

AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW; NEW LETTERS REVIEW OF BOOKS; INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER; PUCKERBRUSH REVIEW; BELLES LETTRES; ELECTRONIC POETRY REVIEW.

Awards

  • Lifetime Achievement Award, Brooklyn College Alumni Association, 2019.
  • Winner of the 2012 New Jersey Poets Prize of $1,000.
  • Project Grant for research study “H.D. and Cinema”, Montclair State Univ., 1977.
  • Fellowship grants in poetry, NJ State Council on the Arts, 1980, 1983.
  • Winner, Open Voices Competition, The Writer’s Voice, NYC, 1986.
  • Norma Farber Award, New England Poetry Club, 1996.
  • Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowship at Yaddo, 1989.
  • Woman of Achievement Award (Arts), NJ Business & Professional Women, 1988.
  • Resident Fellowships: Millay colony 1978; Yaddo 1985, ’86, ’90, ’93, ’95; Virginia Center for Creative Arts 1980, ’83, ’93, ’96; Villa Montalvo 1988.
  • Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest, Modern Haiku, Favorite Haibun Award, 2018
  • Kavinoky Isaacson Award, New School for Social Research, 1972.
  • Winner, Wm. Carlos Williams Poetry Center, five successive years, 1972-1976.

Readings by Invitation [partial listing]

Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Poetry Festival; Folger Shakespeare Library; Manhattan Theatre Club; University of Goteberg, Sweden; Bucknell University; Poetry Society of America; Voices Israel; New England Poetry Club; Writer’s Voice, NYC; Princeton Arts Council; Bryant Park, NYC

Other Presentations [partial listing]

  • Tribute to H.D., with Adrienne Rich, Marilyn Hacker, Manhattan Theatre Club, 1978
  • Women and War in Poetry: A Spoken Anthology, with Paul Twerdowsky, guitarist. Seton Hall Univ., with support NJ State Council on the Humanities.
  • Papers on H.D.: Modern Language Association, 1978; H.D. Centennial, Orono, ME, 1986; H.D. Reading Party, Cornwall, England, 1995; New Mdernisms 2000 (on Bryher); American Literature Association, May 2001.
  • On Muriel Rukeyser, New Modernisms 1999. On Thomas McGrath, MSA 2002.
  • The Evolution of Saturday’s Women, Douglass College, Rutgers, 1984.
  • Coyote Re-invents English: Native American Trickster Poetry, Unsettling America Conference, Paterson, NJ 1994.
  • Brando Watching, 3 poems set to music by Robert Convery, sung in concert by Paul Sperry, Museum of the City of New York, premiere, 1987.
  • Video interview, Cablevision, August 1988.

Teaching

  • Barnard College Center for Research on Women, “Translating Silences: An Extended Poetry Workshop,” Spring 1997 to Winter 2009.
  • Montclair Adult School, Writing and Reading Poetry, 1984-1990.
  • YM-YWHA of North Jersey, Workshops for children, teens, adults, 1976-1983.
  • Visiting poet to schools, colleges, arts seminars, 1974 to present.

Editing

  • Founder of Eileen W. Barnes Award Competition sponsored by Saturday Press to publish a first book by a woman poet over 40, 1981 to 1992.
    Coordinating, judging entries, editing and publishing the award books.
  • Guest Judge, "Poems from the East Coast States," Persimmon Tree Online Magazine, Winter Issue, 2015.
  • Freelance editing, manuscript review.

Member

PEN American Center; National Book Critics Circle; Modern Language Association; National Coalition of Independent Scholars; Association of Writers and Writers Programs.

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