Sue Owen

Sue Owen (born September 5, 1942) is a dark humor poet influenced by the work of W. S. Merwin, Charles Simic, and Mark Strand. As the Poet-in-Residence, she taught poetry writing until 2005 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Owen grew up Madison, Wisconsin, where she graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Later, at Goddard College, in Vermont, she obtained the Master of Fine Arts degree in Creating Writing. Before joining the faculty at Louisiana State University, she taught a variety of poetry classes in the Baton Rouge community, including as a poet in the schools, at the public library, and at the Council on Aging. In 1988, she won a national competition with the publication of her second book of poetry, and in 1998 she received recognition from the state of Louisiana as the Professional Artist of the Year.

• Ohio State University Press/The Journal Award for The Book of Winter, 1988
• Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, 1993
• Governor’s Arts Award from the Louisiana State Arts Council, 1998
• Teaching Grants in Poetry from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 1989-97
• Gretchen Warren Award from the New England Poetry Club, 2013

• Sarah Sue Goldsmith, “Poet Sue Owen to Conduct Workshop,” The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.), Sep. 5, 1993, Sunday Magazine, p. 11.
• "New England Poetry Club 2013 Prize Winners," Writ (Boston, Mass.), Spring 2014, p. 9.

• Nursery Rhymes for the Dead (Ithaca: Ithaca House, 1980)
• The Book of Winter (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988)
• My Doomsday Sampler (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999)
• The Devil’s Cookbook (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007)

• The Best of Intro (Norfolk: Associated Writing Programs, 1985)
• Shared Sightings: An Anthology of Bird Poems (Santa Barbara: John Daniel & Co., 1995)
• Uncommonplace: An Anthology of Contemporary Louisiana Poets (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998)
• Verse and Universe: Poems about Mathematics and Science (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1998)
• The Poetry Anthology, 1912-2002 (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2002)