Susan Kay Anderson

Susan Kay Anderson is the author of Mezzanine (Finishing Line Press, 2019), a book of poems featuring her work as a graveyard-shift custodian at a university, which was her MFA thesis at Eastern Oregon University, directed by James Crews. She is the daughter of her immigrant mother from Germany and restless Nebraskan father. Her family lived in Nome and on Indian reservations in Nevada and Montana and other places away from mainstream America while she was growing up.

Anderson is the recipient of an Oregon Young Writers Award, a Jovanovich Award, fellowships from the University of Colorado, Telluride Writers, Aspen Writers, Ragdale, and stipends from the Student Conservation Association, AFS –Finland, and Study Abroad-Tuebingen University. Her poetry has been published in Barrow Street Journal 4 X 2 Project, BlazeVox Journal, Caliban Online, Carolina Quarterly, Mudfish, Puerto del Sol, Square One, Tom Clark Beyond The Pale, and other places. Anderson has been short-listed for numerous manuscript publication prizes, attended Tin House, Colrain, Windward Community College Writing Retreats, PEN Writers-Hawaii, Volcano Arts Center, AWP, 24 Pearl Street/Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and presented Mezzanine at The Montana Book Festival.

She was the poetry editor of Big Talk in Eugene, Oregon, a free publication which showcased up-and-coming NW punk bands, published by Hank Trotter. Anderson earned degrees in anthropology from the University of Oregon (BS) and English Literature/Creative Writing from the University of Colorado-Boulder (MA). Her thesis was directed by Edward Dorn. Anderson worked in Hawaii as an educator and interviewed Virginia Brautigan Aste there. This project and its resulting memoir is, Please Plant This Book Coast To Coast, published in 2021 by Finishing Line Press. Susan Kay Anderson lives in the Umpqua River Basin in Oregon; a watershed system originating at Lemolo Lake and the Clearwater River.

Early Life
Anderson grew up in remote locations such as Nome, Alaska and Schurz, Nevada. She also lived on the Walker River Indian Reservation and the Flathead Reservation. Additionally, she also studied abroad in Germany for a year in high school and one summer in Finland as an AFS exchange student. She has also lived in Reno, Missoula, Canton, New York, and other places. She graduated from Sutherlin High School after her parents settled down.

Writing Philosophy
"'I attempt to document my surroundings and past experiences in order to understand both or visit both. Writing is my voice, my paintbrush, my ear and eye. I admire open form/organic poetry and sensibilities of Beat era poets and writers. Edward Dorn said my writing is 'demure surrealism' and that is probably what I explore.'"

Inspirations
When asked about her inspirations, Anderson says "'I am constantly running behind to catch up with memories, ideas, dreams, what I read, listen to or watch, and what I experience. I am inspired by the amazing work and lives of other poets, writers, and artists. I am also inspired by my mother, who immigrated from Germany, and her stories of survival after her parents and siblings were killed by Allied Force bombing in 1944.""I am interested in exploring what is possible in writing in order to create unusual and expressive scenes. I see that there are possibilities of cohesion and similarities between rivers, trains, war, lava flows, hurricanes, and my experiences of moving. I am a first-generation American.  Learning about my mother’s experiences as an immigrant has had an impact on my work.  I wish to explore her stories and hope to produce writing which touches on different aspects of this experience:  homesickness, longing, regrets, and also the personal freedom which is found in America. We took a research trip to Germany two years ago and travelled to places where her mother grew up in a different area of Bavaria that my mother had never been. We knew my maternal grandmother was illegitimate but also discovered that this was a pattern; my grandmother’s mother and grandmother were also illegitimate. These older generations of women worked as bar maids in small towns.'"

Social Media

 * Twitter: @SusanKayAnders2
 * Instagram: @susankayandersonpoetry

Website
https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/susan_kay_anderson

Publications

 * Book: Mezzanine
 * Book: Please Plant This Book Coast To Coast
 * BlazeVox Journal Spring 2016
 * Barrow Street 4 X 2 Project
 * Caliban Online #40
 * Indolent Books--A River Sings
 * Panoplyzine
 * Sleet Magazine Vol.12 #2
 * Trouvaille Review
 * Voice Lux journal issue #1