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Who I am:: I am a poet, a translator, an educator. I teach contemporary poetry, modernist poetry, and creative writing, I recently published a translation of Dante's Inferno.

Books I've written, anthologies I've contributed to, and any scripts or plays I've authored:: Inferno: A New Translation (Graywolf, 2012); The Bride of E (Graywolf, 2009); Elegy (Graywolf, 2007); The Eye Like a Strange Balloon (Grove, 2004); Louise in Love (Grove 2001); The Downstream Extremity of the Isle of Swans (U GA Press, 2001); Apology for Want (University Press of New Eng 1997).

My writing is:: Poetry

My professional associations:: Professor of English, Washington University in St. Louis.

Member of: PEN; National Book Critics Circle; Academy of American Poets; Poetry Society of America; Poets House; The Poetry Project.

I found out about She Writes from:: From Kamy Wicoff

Mary Jo Bang's Blog

How I Went from Wanting to Being

Posted on September 13, 2012 at 4:30am 16 Comments 7 Likes

When I was a junior in high school, the boy who sat next to me in Honors English—and who would the next year be named the valedictorian of our graduating class of five hundred—asked me what I was planning to do when I graduated. This boy, the future valedictorian, didn’t often speak to me. Usually, in the five or ten minutes we sat waiting for the teacher to arrive, I assumed some mindless Zen state, or read a novel. He…

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At 10:00am on August 19, 2009, Kamy Wicoff said…: No worries. When will you be back? I'm writing to our designer to have them add the cover for The Bride Of E to our slider right now! (Can you see it? You have close out of the initial interface on the main page that has big pink buttons saying "INVITE OTHER WRITERS" and stuff like that.) So look for it. :)

At 9:32am on August 19, 2009, Kamy Wicoff said…: Mary Jo! It is so wonderful to see you here. There is a very active poetry group on the site, maybe a place you'd find interesting. Someday we will actually meet in PERSON, but for now it's really lovely to see you on SHE WRITES, and to think of Diane, of course.
warm best
Kamy