Gilbert Allen

Poet, Fiction Writer

Travelers Rest, SC
South Carolina US

Author's Bio

Although I was born and raised on Long Island, I've lived in upstate South Carolina for most of my life, and I was elected to the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2014. If you're curious about my family history, check out my sequence of poems Forty Years North of Dreamland (in the 2015 issue of Measure), my long poem The World of Tomorrow (in the Spring 2008 issue of The Southern Review), my 2007 essay How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Swamp in South Carolina (in Living Blue in the Red States), and my interview in Conversations with South Carolina Poets (John F. Blair, 1986). The best source for online samples of my work is http://libguides.furman.edu/special-coll...

Publications & Prizes

Fiction

Anthologies:
Topograph: New Writing from the Carolinas and the Landscape Beyond (Novello Festival Press, 2010)
,
Tartts Four (Livingston Press, 2008)
,
Tartts Three (Livingston Press, 2007)
,
In a Fine Frenzy (University of Iowa Press, 2005)
,
Food and Other Enemies: Stories of Consuming Desire (Essex Press, 2000)
Books:
The Beasts of Belladonna (Slant, 2020)
,
The Final Days of Great American Shopping (University of South Carolina Press, 2016)
Journals: ,
China Grove
,
Connecticut Review
, ,
Eclectica
, ,
Evansville Review
, , , ,
Pembroke Magazine
,
Shenandoah
, , , ,

Poetry

Anthologies:
Archive: South Carolina Poetry Since 2005 (Ninety-Six Press, 2018)
,
South Carolina Voices: Poetry and Prose (Atheneum, 2018)
,
Jiggery-Pokery Semicentennial (Waywiser Press, 2017)
,
American Society: What Poets See (FutureCycle Press, 2012)
,
The Southern Poetry Anthology: Contemporary Appalachia (Texas Review Press, 2010)
,
Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose About Alzheimer's Disease (Kent State University Press, 2009)
,
The Southern Poetry Anthology: South Carolina (Texas Review Press, 2007)
,
Illuminations (Celestial Arts an imprint of Ten Speed Pres, 2006)
,
A Millennial Sampler of South Carolina Poetry (Ninety-Six Press, 2005)
,
Proposing on the Brooklyn Bridge (Grayson Books, 2003)
Books:
Believing in Two Bodies (Kelsay Books, 2020)
,
Catma (Measure Press, 2014)
,
Driving to Distraction (Orchises Press, 2003)
,
Commandments at Eleven (Orchises Press, 1994)
,
Second Chances (Orchises Press, 1991)
,
In Everything (Lotus Press, Inc., 1982)
Chapbook:
Body Parts (South Carolina Poetry Initiative, 2007)
Journals: ,
American Scholar
,
Appalachian Journal
, ,
Cumberland Poetry Review
,
Eclectica
,
Epoch
,
First Things
, , , , , ,
Kakalak
,
Measure
,
Miramar Poetry Journal
, ,
Poetry Daily
, ,
Sewanee Theological Review
,
Shenandoah
, , , ,
Southern Quarterly
, , ,
The Writer's Almanac
, , ,
Verse Daily
,
Your Daily Poem
Prizes won: 

Nancy Dew Taylor Poetry Award from Emrys Journal (2018); Special Mention in Pushcart Prize XXXVII (2013); Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story Award (2010); Robert Penn Warren Prize in Poetry from The Southern Review (2007); South Carolina Poetry Initative Chapbook Prize (2006); South Carolina Literary Arts Fellowship (2002-03); Rainmaker Award in Poetry from Zone 3 (1990); Amon Liner Poetry Award from The Greensboro Review (1984); five-time winner of the South Carolina Fiction Project Prize; Porter Fleming Poetry and Fiction Awards

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Appalachian
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Born in: 
Rockville Centre, NY
New York
Raised in: 
Hempstead and West Islip, NY
New York
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Nov 29, 2023