Carol Muske-Dukes is a professor at the University of Southern California and a former Poet Laureate of California. She is an author of eight books of poems. The most recent is Twin Cities (Penguin). Earlier books of poems include Sparrow (Random House), which was a National Book Award finalist, and others. She has also published four novels, including Channeling Mark Twain (Random House, 2003). She is also an essayist and anthology editor. Her two collections of essays include Married to the Icepick Killer: a Poet in Hollywood (a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book). She also co-edited (with Bob Holman) an anthology of poems, Crossing State Lines: an American Renga (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) and two children's poetry "handbooks" called The Magical Poetry Blimp Pilot's Guide, 1 & 2. Many of her books have been New York Times “Notable Books.” She is professor of English/creative writing at USC where she founded the Ph.D. Program in creative writing/literature. She recently completed her term as Poet Laureate of the state of California. She writes for The New York Times Book Review & Op Ed, the Los Angeles Times (where she was poetry columnist for some years), the Huffington Post, and The New Yorker, Page-Turner on-line, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and others.
Portrait by Carlos Puma
