Dr. Sasha West is a poet and associate professor of creative writing. Her teaching specializations include poetry, the hybrid genre, creativity studies, eco-poetics, and intersections between the visual and literary arts. She coordinates the Environmental Humanities minor.
Sasha West’s first book of poems, Failure and I Bury the Body (Harper Perennial), was a winner of the National Poetry Series and the Texas Institute of Letters Bob Bush First Book of Poetry Award. Her next book, How to Abandon Ship, is forthcoming from Four Way Books in 2024. Her poems and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including: The American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, Kenyon Review Online, Ninth Letter, Copper Nickel, Ecotone, Georgia Review, Born Magazine, and Crazyhorse. She received the St. Edward's University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020 and shared the Hudspeth Innovative Teaching Award with Graphic Design Professor Jimmy Luu in 2022.
PhD in Creative Writing & Literature, University of Houston
MA in Poetry, Writing Seminars, Johns Hopkins University
BAs in General Literature and Psychology, University of California San Diego
Honors and Awards
Fellowship, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
National Poetry Series, Winner
Texas Institute of Letters, First Book of Poetry Bob Bush Award
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Louis Untermeyer Scholarship
Houston Arts Alliance Establish Artist Grant
Rice University Parks Fellowship
Inprint's Verlaine Prize
Organizations, Boards and Memberships
2015-present, Advisory Board Member, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts
2006-2015, Board Member, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts
2007-2012, President of Board, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts
2003-2006, Editor-in-Chief, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts
2009, 2012, Poetry Curator, Menil Collection
Publications
Failure and I Bury the Body, Harper Perennial, 2013