Mary Leader

Mary Leader (born 1948 Pawnee, Oklahoma is a poet, and former Assistant Attorney General of Oklahoma.

She graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1975, with a J.D. in 1980, from Warren Wilson College with a M.F.A. in 1991, and from Brandeis University with a Ph.D. in 2000. She taught at Warren Wilson College, Emory University, Louisiana State University, the University of Memphis, and Brandeis University. She teaches at Purdue University.

• 1996 National Poetry Series, for Red Signature
• 2001 Iowa Poetry Prize, for The Penultimate Suitor

• "For the Love of Gerald Finzi"; "IT OPENS"; "WATER", Beloit Poetry Journal
• "Girl at Sewing Machine", Emory University
• Red Signature. Graywolf Press. 1997. ISBN 978-1-55597-255-4. 
• The penultimate suitor: poems. University of Iowa Press. 2001. ISBN 978-0-87745-765-7. 

Anthologies

• Michael Collier, ed. (2000). "Portrait "Fritz Kreisler"". The new American poets. UPNE. ISBN 978-0-87451-964-8. 

The Penultimate Suitor, which received the Iowa Poetry Prize this year, follows through on its predecessor's promise--it soars whimsically around the relationship between love and fine art, dabbles in traditional form, and generally gives the impression that the poet is having a really good time, as is charmingly evident on the first page of the book...