Poet Jane Satterfield to Read at FSU

British-American writer Jane Satterfield is giving a reading of her works on the main floor of the Lewis J. Ort library tomorrow (Thursday, April 30) at 7:30 p.m. Frostburg State University’s Center for Creative Writing is presenting Satterfield as the next guest in the spring 2015 reading series. Satterfield is a poet, essayist, editor and a professor of writing at Loyola College.

She was born in Northamptonshire, England, but raised in the United States. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing from Loyola College in 1986 and a Master of Fine Arts the following year from the University of Iowa.  She resides in Baltimore with her husband, Ned Balbo, and daughter, Catherine. Satterfield reflects on her experiences as a single mother in “Daughters of Empire: A Memoir of a Year in Britain and Beyond.” In addition to her memoir, Satterfield has published three books of poetry: “Shepherdess with an Automatic,” “Assignation at Vanishing Point,” and “Her Familiars.” She has also served as the literary editor of the Journal of Association for Research on Mothering since 2009.

Satterfield enjoys teaching courses in effective writing, creative nonfiction and poetry, all while writing her own nonfiction and poetry. Some poems by Satterfield, such as “The War Years” and “Instant Combat Kit,” relate back to her experience as the daughter of an American airman. Literary critic Sondra Guttman referred to “Daughters of Empire” while noting that Satterfield “brings a poet’s eye and ear to the task of grappling with questions of gender, sexuality, and maternity.” She utilizes a variety of poetry forms and descriptive yet modern diction.

Satterfield’s numerous literary awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature in 2007, the 49th Parallel Award in Poetry from Bellingham Review in 2013 and a win at the Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition in 2011.