Diana Woodcock

Poet

Midlothian, VA
Virginia US

Author's Bio

       Diana Woodcock is the author of seven chapbooks and six poetry collections, most recently Heaven Underfoot (winner of the 2022 Codhill Press Pauline Uchmanowicz Poetry Award), Holy Sparks (a finalist for the 2020 Paraclete Press Poetry Award) and Facing Aridity (a finalist for the 2020 Prism Prize for Climate Literature). A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Best of the Net nominee, she is the recipient of the 2022 Codhill Press Pauline Uchmanowicz Poetry Award, the 2011 Vernice Quebodeaux Pathways Poetry Prize for Women (for her debut collection, Swaying on the Elephant’s Shoulders), and the 2007 Creekwalker Poetry Prize. Her grand prize-winning poem, “Music as Scripture,” was performed live onstage in Lincoln Park, San Francisco at Artists Embassy International’s 21st Dancing Poetry Festival. Her poems have been published in Best New Poets 2008, Women’s Review of Books, Nimrod, Crab Orchard Review, Southern Humanities Review, Spiritus, Comstock Review, and other literary journals and anthologies. Prior to teaching at VCUarts Qatar (since 2004), she worked for nearly eight years in Tibet, Macau and on the Thai/Cambodian border. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University, where she researched poetry’s role in the search for an environmental ethic.

 

Publications & Prizes

Books:
Heaven Underfoot (Codhill Press, 2023)
,
Holy Sparks (Paraclete Press, 2023)
,
Facing Aridity (Homebound Publications, 2021)
,
Tread Softly (FutureCycle Press, 2018)
,
Under the Spell of a Persian Nightingale (WordTech Communications, 2015)
,
Swaying on the Elephant's Shoulders (Little Red Tree Publishing, 2011)
Chapbooks:
Near the Arctic Circle (Tiger's Eye Press, 2018)
,
Beggar in the Everglades (Finishing Line Press, 2015)
,
Desert Ecology: Lessons and Visions (Finishing Line Press, 2014)
,
Tamed by the Desert (Finishing Line Press, 2013)
,
In the Shade of the Sidra Tree (Finishing Line Press, 2010)
,
Mandala (Foothills Publishing, 2009)
,
Travels of a Gwai Lo (Toadlily Press, 2009)
Prizes won: 

2022 Codhill Press Pauline Uchmanowicz Poetry Award, for Heaven Underfoot; 2017 First Place, Daniel Varoujan Award (New England Poetry Club) for a single poem, “Fire Raging, Questions Blazing" (judge: Fanny Howe); 2014 Grand Prize, Artists Embassy International’s 21st Dancing Poetry Contest, for “Music as Scripture;"  2010 Vernice Quebodeaux International Poetry Prize for Women, for Swaying on the Elephant’s Shoulders; 2009 International Publication Award, Atlanta Review; 2007 Creekwalker Poetry Prize.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Richmond, VA
Virginia
Raised in: 
Richmond, VA
Virginia
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jan 24, 2024