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About Ellen
Her poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, including The Atlantic Monthly, Ms., The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and Field. She was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati, Nimrod/Hardman's Pablo Neruda Prize, The Missouri Review's Larry Levis Award, the Greensboro Poetry Prize, the New Letters Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a Fellowship from the California Arts Council. Her non-fiction books include Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth (HarperCollins 1996), I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (HarperCollins, 1983) and The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (Harper Collins 1988), which has sold over a million copies and has been translated into ten languages. She currently is teaching in the low residency MFA program at Pacific University and has taught poetry and creative writing in Santa Cruz, CA and at other beautiful locations nationally and internationally--since 1974. Comments from Students Ellen creates a warm and supportive
environment for writers of every genre. You cannot help but be inspired
and stimulated--and your writing blossoms! I took part in Ellen Bass's
"Writing for Our Lives" workshop in Mallorca 2004 -- and what a TREAT!
Not being a professional or seasoned writer, but with stories inside me
that I had carried around for some time, I wasn't really sure how it would
be for me. What I found was a group of people who were oh so talented
and supportive, and an environment made whole, uplifting, and inspirational
by Ellen's skilled leadership. Oh how I wish I could be a part of one
of her groups regularly! Because of the suportive,
warm and artistic care I receive in an Ellen Bass Workshop, I'd go anywhere
in the world to write with her. Anyone can see by her poetry that she
would attract loving and talented people. Beginners and writers of accomplishment
blend into one dynamic group. Ellen Bass has a particular
knack for encouraging each of us to write the rich truth of our lives,
leading to personal growth and making the experience of writing so rewarding.
Her workshops have transformed my writing and my life. Her process is deceptively
simple in appearance, but profound in its effectiveness. With Ellen Bass
you learn almost as much by listening to her coach your fellow writers
as you do from her razor-sharp, insightful critiques of your own work.
She maintains a focused, sensitive, serious atmosphere where each one
gets as much specific feedback as he or she wants, and where a fascinating
mix of writers and poets support one another in a warm, powerful way.
I'd recommend her workshops to anyone who wants to become a better writer
or poet. I hosted a workshop with Ellen
in my home last fall and I cannot encourage all of you enough to find
a way to work with her. Ellen has not only a truly gifted way of looking
at a poem but the most blessed way of helping a poet see new perspectives
and potential in their own piece. She is very affirming and has a terrific
sense of humor. Give yourself the gift of Ellen's workshop and you will
not regret it! Ellen Bass is a wonderful
teacher, presence, gift to the creative spirit and the world. I love her.
I unconditionally recommend her. She has a generous heart, soul, spirit
....and the poetry of her, not only what she writes but who she is ...is
transformative and touching and creates that needed safe and sacred space
to explore our words, sounds, music, souls, shadows, grittiness, juice,
fumbling, breath, ways of coming up for air...again and again. |
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Ellen Bass's fourth book of poems, The Human Line, was published by Copper Canyon Press in June 2007. She co-edited (with Florence Howe) the groundbreaking No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (Doubleday, 1973), has published several previous volumes of poetry, including Mules of Love (BOA, 2002) which won the Lambda Literary Award.