Marjorie Maddox

Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, poet, fiction writer, and editor Marjorie Maddox earned a BA at Wheaton College, an MA at the University of Louisville, and an MFA at Cornell University, where she studied with A.R. Ammons.

Maddox’s poems often explore history, the body, and spirituality. She is the author of several poetry collections, including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (2005, 2018), True, False, None of the Above (2016), Weeknights at the Cathedral (2006), and Body Parts (1999). With Jerry Wemple, she edited the anthology Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (2005). Her poems have appeared in the anthologies In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (2005) and A Fine Excess: Contemporary Literature at Play (2001). She has also published a short story collection, What She Was Saying (2017).

Maddox is the author of the children’s books I’m Feeling Blue, Too! (2020), illustrated by Philip Huber; Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems (2009), illustrated by John Sandford; and A Crossing of Zebras: Animal Packs in Poetry (2008), illustrated by Philip Huber. Her work is included in the children’s poetry anthology Hey, You!: Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things (2007). She is also the author of Inside Out: Poems on Writing and Reading Poems with Insider Exercises (2020), a resource for high school students and teachers. 

Maddox’s honors include an Academy of American Poets Prize, the Cornell University Robert Chasen Memorial Poetry Prize, the Paumanok Poetry Award, Seattle Review’s Bentley Prize, and several Pushcart Prize nominations. The director of the creative writing program at Lock Haven University, Maddox lives with her family in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.