Thomas Centolella Explained

Thomas Centolella is an American poet and educator. He has published four books of poetry and has had many poems published in periodicals including American Poetry Review. He has received awards for his poetry including those from the National Poetry Series, the American Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry and the Dorset Prize. In 2019, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.^[1]

Life

Centolella has published four books of poetry: Terra Firma, Lights & Mysteries, Views from along the Middle Way, and Almost Human.^[2] His poetry has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review,^[3] American Poetry Review,^[4] Parthenon West Review, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, and The Los Angeles Times, among many other periodicals.^[5] His poem "View #45", was read at the United Nations as a part of Poets Against the War.^[6] "In the evening we shall be examined on love" and "Lines of Force" were featured on Garrison Keillor's Writers' Almanac on NPR.^{[7] [8]}

He has been a visiting writer at many universities and colleges.

Mr. Centolella served as a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He has taught literature and creative writing at San Francisco State University, at the University of California, Berkeley (Extension), at the Institute on Aging (San Francisco), at San Francisco WritersCorps, and in the California Poets in the Schools Program.^[2]

He currently lives in San Francisco^[2] and teaches at College of Marin and in private workshops.

Awards

• 1990 National Poetry Series (selected by Denise Levertov)
• 1991 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, and Bay Area Book Reviewers Award (aka, Northern California Book Award).
• 1992 Lannan Literary Award for Poetry.
• 1996 Poetry Medal from the Commonwealth Club of California (aka California Book Award).
• 2015 The Dorset Prize, (selected by Edward Hirsch), Tupelo Press.
• 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship

Work

Books

• Book: Terra Firma. Copper Canyon Press. 1990. 978-1-55659-030-6. registration.
• Book: Lights & Mysteries. Copper Canyon Press. 1995. 978-1-55659-106-8. registration.
• Book: Views from along the Middle Way: poems. Copper Canyon Press. 2002. 978-1-55659-161-7 .
• Almost Human. Tupelo Press, 2017.

Anthologies

• America, We Call Your Name: Poems of Resistance and Resilience, Sixteen Rivers Press (2018)
• The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems of the San Francisco Bay Watershed, Sixteen Rivers Press (2010)
• Book: Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds . Chad Sweeney . Chad Sweeney . City Lights Publishers . 978-1-931404-10-5. January 2009 .
• Book: 75 Poems on Retirement. Robin Chapman. Judith Strasser. University of Iowa Press. 2007. 978-1-58729-527-0. registration.
• Book: The Art of Bicycling . Justin Daniel Belmont. Breakaway Books. 2005 . 978-1-891369-56-8 .
• Book: The Other Side of the Postcard. devorah major. City Lights Foundation. 2004. 978-1-931404-06-8 .
• Book: Don't Tell Mama! The Penguin Book of Italian American Writing. Regina Barreca. Tandem Library. 2002. 978-1-4177-0459-0 .
• Book: Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry about School. Maggie Anderson . David Hassler . University of Iowa Press. 1999. 978-0-87745-663-6 . 58.

Editor

• Book: I Fall Into the Bright, Bright World: Poems. Manic D Press. 2002. Grace Grafton, Thomas Centolella, Calif Lakeshore Alternative Elementary School .
• Book: The Irresistible Earth: Poems. Grace Grafton, Thomas Centolella, Calif Lakeshore Alternative Elementary School . Manic D Press. 2002 .

Poetry

• The Raptors . Ploughshares. Spring 1995.
• The Orders . Ploughshares. Spring 1995. ^[9]
• "View #45", poemhunter
• "The Secret Life," Poetry Northwest, http://www.poetrynw.org/thomas-centolella-secret-life/
• 10 poems, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-centolella

Notes and References

1. Web site: John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Thomas Centolella. 2020-09-09. en-US.
2. Web site: Thomas Centolella . Terra Firma by Thomas Centolella - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists . Goodreads.com . 2013-10-06.
3. Web site: Spring & Summer 1996 . Uaa.alaska.edu . 2012-04-03 . 2013-10-06.
4. http://www.aprweb.org/shopsite/page8.html
5. Web site: Parthenon West Review ~ Poetry is Our Nation . Parthenonwestreview.com . 2013-10-06.
6. http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/NNPTreaty.asp
7. Web site: DC Writers and Magazines at AWP in Chicago - 32 Poems Magazine . Blog.32poems.com . 2009-02-10 . 2013-10-06.
8. Web site: WritersCorps » Teaching Arts . Sfartscommission.org . 2013-10-06.
9. Web site: author detail . Pshares.org . 2010-07-08 . 2013-10-06.