Ruth Thompson grew up in California and received a BA from Stanford and a PhD from Indiana University. She has been an English professor, librarian, college dean, professional editor and yoga teacher in Los Angeles. She now lives near Ithaca, NY. Her poems have won the New Millennium Writings Poetry Award and the Harpur Palate Milton Kessler Memorial Prize, among others.
She started Saddle Road Press in 2011 and a new imprint, Two Fine Crows Books, in 2021.
Her chapbook, Here Along Cazenovia Creek, was the basis for a collaborative performance of poetry and dance with Japanese dancer Shizuno Nasu (see this, this, and this). Her most recent book is Whale Fall & Black Sage, which was also the basis for a collaborative performance with the dancers Jenn Eng, Karen Masaki, and Colee Garr.
Woman with Crows, her second book of poetry, was a finalist for the A Room of Her Own Foundation’s To The Lighthouse Prize in 2010.
Ruth is involved in video poetry and other video. Visit her website as well as the Woman with Crows website.
Image: Don Mitchell
Ruth Thompson
Whale Fall & Black Sage