CURRICULUM VITAE
SAM CORNISH
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
2008- Present Poet Laureate, City of Boston
Job Description
Promoting poetry in the City of Boston and elsewhere in Massachusetts through readings and other public appearances, consulting and workshops.
Dept. of Writing and Publishing, Emerson College, Boston
Job Description:
Courses in literature, creative writing and minority/ethnic literature. Developed courses on the Beat Generation, Literature of the American West, The Harlem Renaissance, Gay Literature, The Literature of War in the 20 th Century.
1979-1982 Literature Director
Mass. Council on the Arts and Humanities
Job Description:
Represented Mass. writers and publishers to the Arts Council; chaired annual panel meetings to determine funding; supervised a small press distribution program of books and periodicals to libraries in Massachusetts; sought literary organizations to participate in the Council’s funding program and prepared those organizations for funding eligibility; gathered information and assistance from other funding agencies to improve the quality of literary funding in Mass.
Project Followthrough, Education Development Center, Newton, MA
Job Description:
Created writing materials for teachers and parents, grades 1-3; organized parents and administrators to provide them with information about open education and curriculum materials; worked with previously developed materials in classroom materials in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.
1964-1966 Educational Consultant and Curriculum Specialist
Central Atlantic Regional Education Laboratory, Washington, DC.
Job Description:
Designed literary materials for classroom use and demonstrated them to teachers; other duties identical to those at Follow Through (above).
1960-1964 Cultural Liaison, Community Action Program
Enoch Pratt Public Library Baltimore, MD
Job Description:
Determined book selection for neighborhood library center; held writing workshops with neighborhood residents and edited a monthly publication of same (still extant); consulted on literary and cultural programs for the community center; was a liaison between library, community and community center.
OTHER CONSULTING/TEACHING POSITIONS
1992-1993 Visiting Instructor, Holy Cross College, Worcester, on African-American poetry
1992 Museum of Fine Arts, for Black Literature Program Series
1992 Annual Fiction Contest, Boston Magazine
1991 Panelist and Moderator, UrbanArts, Boston, Poetry Contest
1989 Consultant for UrbanArts, Boston on creation/installation of A. Philip Randolph statue in Back Bay Station, Boston
1986-1988 Director, Literature Project for the MBTA Orange Line, under the auspices of UrbanArts, Boston.
1983-1988 Instructor, Boston Adult Education Center, Boston, MA
Courses in fiction, poetry, publishing
1984-1986 Book reviewer, The Christian Science Monitor
1983-present Consultant in creative writing, black history and literature for various public and private schools, giving readings, lectures and workshops.
1979-1980 Poet-in-Residence, Emerson College, Boston MA
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS An Apron Full of Beans (CavanKerry Press, 2008)
To Cross A Parted Sea (Zoland Books, 1996)
Folks Like Me (Zoland Books, 1992)
1935–A Prose Memoir (Ploughshares Books, 1990)
Songs of Jubilee–New & Selected Poems (Unicorn Press, 1985)
Sam’s World–Poems (Decatur House, Ltd., 1980)
Generations–Poems (Beacon Press, 1967)
Grandmother’s Pictures (1967,1970,1974)
(Bookstore Press, Bradbury Press, Avon Books)
Your Hand in Mine (Harcourt Brace, 1964)
PAMPHLETS
Sometimes (Pym Randall Press)
Winters (Sans Souci Press)
In This Corner (Fleming-McAlister Press)
People Beneath the Window (Sacco Pub.)
ANTHOLOGIES
Poems included in the following:
American Literary Anthology (Viking Press)
New Black Poetry (Morrow)
Black Fire (Morrow)
Drum Voices (Doubleday)
New Voices in American Poetry (Winthrop Pub.)
English for a New Generation (McGraw Hill)
Memory of Kin (M.H. Washington, ed.) (Doubleday)
Our Daily Bread (Kathleen Aguero, ed.)
Poetry Connection (Poets and Writers)
Poetry of Black America (Harper & Row)
You Better Believe It (Penguin Pub.)
Daily Fare Kathleen Aguero, ed. (University of Georgia)
An Ear To The Ground Harris & Aguero, Editors (University of Georgia)
Beneath Another Sky (Scott Foresman – Textbook)
Generations Arnold Adoff, Editor (Follet)
Men Of Our Time Moraarco & Zolynas, Editors (U of Georgia Press)
Crossing Boundries Mc Graw Hill – Textbook
Rereading America Beford Books/St. Martins Textbook
African American Alphabet Hausman & Rodriques, Editors St. Martins
The Garden Thrives Clarence Major, Editor
Reflections On A Slice Of Water Pickle Scott Foresman – Textbook
Pierced By A Ray Of Light (Harper & Row)
Letters To America Jim Daniels, Editor (Wayne State University Press)
Memory Of Kin Mary Helen Washington, Editor (Doubleday)
LITERARY PERIODICALS
Poems have appeared in many periodicals, including: Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Essence Magazine, Angi Review, Evergreen Review, University of Tampa Poetry Review, Black Poetry, Work, Obsidian, Greenfield Review, Ann Arbor Review, Camels Coming, Hiram Review, Grand Street Magazine..
CURRICULUM MATERIALS (Developed for E.D.C. Followthrough program)
Creative Writing Handbook for Teachers and Parents
BiCentennial Program/Play for Black History Month
Harriet Tubman, a pamphlet of writing exercises
My Daddy’s People, a pamphlet and broadsides based on the local history of Paterson, NJ
EDITORSHIPS/REVIEWS
Editor, Chicory (periodical/book); Book Review Editor, Fiction, Literature & the Arts Review; Publisher/Editor, Mimeo Magazine and Beanbag Press; Guest Editor, Ploughshares, Ann Arbor Review; book reviews published in The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The West Coast Review of Books, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Kenyon Review, Harvard Review, Boston Review, Essence Magazine, Fusion Magazine, Ploughshares, Harvard Book Review, Boston Review of Books. As subject: critical article in Contemporary Literature, Fall/Winter 1992; extended review of book 1935 in Kenyon Review, Fall 1992; 1935 subject of review on “All Things Considered,” National Public Radio, 1991; Review of To Cross A Parted Sea, Winter Issue, Boston Review Of Books (1996). Review in Shenandoah (1973) for Generations; Review in Southern Humanities Review (1992) for 1935; Reviews in Publishers Weekly (various dates) for Grandmother's Pictures (several editions) Forthcoming: anthologized and critiqued with other African-American Writers in Writing America Black By C. K. Doreski (Oxford University Press/1998?)
GRANTS/AWARDS
St. Botolph Society Foundation Award, 1992 (NEA)
Grant, Mass. Council on the Arts, (1990) “Mass Productions” – to write 1935.
NEA Fellowship (1967)
NEA Award (given writers published in the American Lit. Anth.)
ALA Notable Book Citations (for Grandmother’s Pictures and Chicory)
Provincetown Poetry Workshop (1997)
Have served on the following literature panels:
Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College
C.C.L.M., New York
Artists’ Foundation, Massachusetts);
Langston Hughes Symposium, Fine Arts Center, Concord, NH
PROFESSIONAL LISTINGS
Listed in the following reference works:
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author, Poets and Writers Directory, Directory of American Poets, Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American Literature, Contemporary American Literature.
READINGS/LECTURES
Poetry readings given at the following places: Simmons College (“An Evening With Sam Cornish”), The Ellen LaForge Poetry Society, Harvard University, Emerson College, Museum of Fine Arts/Boston, Wellesley College, Johns Hopkins Univ., Morgan State College, Longwood Teachers’ College, Mass. Institute of Technology, Univ. of W. Virginia, Oberlin College, Boston Public Library, Blacksmith House, University of Mass., (Boston and Amherst), University of Kentucky, Keene State College, Daniel Webster College, Blacksmith House, Boston Public Library, Brighton Public Library, Boston Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Worcester Poetry Association, Boston University, Brattle Theatre (celebrating Zoland Books), Grolier Reading Series Adams House, Jamaica Plain Arts Center, Cultural Connections Bookstore; Emerson College (Afro-American History Poems).