I am the author of Since I Moved In, a book which won the Gil Ott Award in 2007. It was republished as Since I Moved In (new & revised) in 2019, with a new Introduction by poet and critic Joy Ladin. My second full-length book of poems has been completed. My chapbooks include Cumulus (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2003) and Violet Speech (Second Avenue Poetry, 2011), among others.
I received my MFA in Poetry from the University of Arizona in 2002, where I wrote my thesis working with the poet Barbara Cully. I was also a member of Jorie Graham’s workshop at Harvard in 2003. I received my PhD in English (Literature) from The Graduate Center, CUNY in 2020.
My poems have been selected for awards by Nathaniel Mackey, Myung Mi Kim, and John Ashbery, among others.
For booking, please contact me at tracepeterson1 [at] gmail [dot] com.
~
Poems Available Online:
Videos of readings are here.
Audio of readings are here.
“The Coroner is a Crooner: A Queer Exquisite Corpse” in The Los Angeles Review, 2024.
“Make a Wish” in Interim Poetry & Poetics, 2024.
“Drones” in The Arts Fuse, 2023.
“Pussy” and “Queer Poem,” in Michigan Quarterly Review’s MQR Mixtape, 2021.
“With a Petroleum Coating,” at The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, 2020.
“The Barometer in My Neck,” at The Poetry Project website, 2019..
“No One Could See the Vast Crowd,” in Boston Review. April 25, 2017.
“Permanently” in Posit, 2016.
“Everyone is a Little Trans” at PEN America, April 2016.
“Canyon of Heroines,” “The Valleys are so Lush and Steep,” and “Exclusively on Venus” at The Academy of American Poets (Poets.org), March 2016.
“After Before and After” and “Exclusively on Venus” in The Brooklyn Rail, Oct 2015.
“The Valleys are so Lush and Steep,” The Home School. 2015.
“from Trans Figures” in The Advocate, 2013.
“Bouquet,” “Hydro-powered Turbines,” and “Nocturne” in Eratio, 2012.
“Trans Figures (excerpt)” in The Millions, 2012.
“Futurism is easy” (vispo) in Trickhouse, 2011.
“from Violet Speech,” Spiral Orb, 2010
“Bobadyllo” and “Content” in Aufgabe 8, 2009.
“Embarrassment of Riches,” Transdada (kari edwards’ blog), November 6, 2003.
Poems in Print Journals:
In addition to the journals mentioned above, my work has also appeared in Antennae, The Anthology of New England Writers, Argos Poetry Calendar, Boog City Anthology, Colorado Review, Cream City Review, Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry, Five Fingers Review, OCHO, Sonora Review, The Sunday Morning Anthology, Texas Review, Transgender Tapestry, Vanitas, and VeRT.
~
Articles About My Poetry by Other People:
Thomas Fink, “Conclusion,” in Reading Poetry with College and University Students. Bloomsbury Academic, 2023.
Tanrada Lertlaksanaporn, “Transgender People’s Deterritorialization in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and Trace Peterson’s ‘After Before and After,” Manusya: Journal of Humanities, 2020.
Bonnie Reid, “Troubling the Border: Global Poetic Trans* Dislocations.” On_Culture, 2020.
Lonely Christopher, Introduction to Segue Reading Series event (at Don Yorty’s website), 2020.
Susan Rudy, “Gender’s ontoformativity, or refusing to be spat out of reality: reclaiming queer women’s solidarity through experimental writing,” Feminist Theory, 2019.
Jennifer Firestone, “What I’m Reading Now…” Tarpaulin Sky, 2019.
Sarah Grant, The Reconstruction of Womanhood by Black and LGBT Authors. Honors Thesis, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2019.
Marit MacArthur and Lee Miller, “After Scansion: Visualizing, Deforming, and Listening to Poetic Prosody,” Arcade: Literature, Humanities, and the World, 2018.
Marit J. MacArthur, Georgia Zellou, and Lee M. Miller, “Beyond Poet Voice: sampling the (non-) performance styles of 100 American poets.” Journal of Cultural Analytics, 2018.
Vincent Katz, “Introduction to Trace Peterson,” in Readings in Contemporary Poetry: An Anthology. Dia Art Foundation / Yale University Press, 2017.
Alex Difrancesco, “The Politics of Who Gets to Write ‘Outsider’ Genres,” The Mary Sue, 2017.
Hannah Wallerstein, Real Gender: Identity, Loss, and the Capacity to Feel Real. PhD Dissertation, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2016.
Katy Shay, “cream city review: Genre Queer,” OxMag, March 2016.
Corrine Segal, “Poet Creates First Class for Transgender Poetry,” PBS Newshour, 2015.
Thomas Fink, “A Proliferation of Differences: A Review of Troubling the Line.” Jacket2, 2014.
Stephanie Burt, “The Body of The Poem: On Transgender Poetry,” Los Angeles Review of Books, 2013.
Matthew Hall, “Genderqueer and Trans Poetics: An Interview with Trish Salah,” Cordite Poetry Review, 2012.
Filip Marinovich, “‘Am I Rothko?’ Trace Peterson’s Violet Speech,” Boog City, 2011.
Claire Wolford, “Poet [Trace] Peterson kicks off creative writing program’s poetry series,” The Miami Hurricance, March 4, 2009.
Nicholas Manning, “Sublime irony and direct obliquity: tensions and unities in OCHO #14. Jacket, 2008,
Ron Silliman, “Review of Since I Moved In,” Silliman’s Blog, 2007.
Thomas Fink, “On [Trace] Peterson’s Since I Moved In,” Talisman, 2007.
Angela Veronica Wong, “Review of Since I Moved In,” Boog City, 2007.
Maria Damon and Thom Swiss, “New Media Literature,” in Creative Writing: Theory Beyond Practice, edited by Tess Brady and Nigel Krauth. Post Pressed, 2006.
~
My poems have appeared in the following anthologies:
- More Truly and More Strange: 100 Contemporary American Self-Portrait Poems. Ed. Lisa Russ Spaar. Persea Books, 2020.
- Readings in Contemporary Poetry: An Anthology. Ed. Vincent Katz. Dia Art Foundation / Yale University Press, 2017
- The Best American Experimental Writing 2016. ed. Charles Bernstein and Tracie Morris, Wesleyan University Press, 2017.
- Future Perfect. Ed. Andrew Durbin. Publication Studio, 2016.
- Bettering American Poetry, Volume 1. Ed. Amy King, et al. Blazevox Books, 2015.
- Devouring the Green: Fear of a Human Planet. Ed. Sam Witt, Christopher J. Arabadjis, and Debra Di Blasi. Jaded Ibis Press, 2015
- Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics. Eds. Trace Peterson and TC Tolbert. Nightboat Books, 2013.
- The Collection of Silence. Ed. Eileen Myles. Dia Art Foundation, 2009.
- The Portable Boog Reader 2: An Anthology of New York City Poetry. Eds. Elrick, Iijima, Kirschenbaum, Lamoureux, Strong, and Toscano. Boog City, 2008.
~
Service:
I have judged the following Contests:
- Wallace Stevens Poetry Prize, University of Connecticut. 2023-24. Winners: Madison Bigelow (1st Place), Anh Le (2nd Place), Nikki Blumenfeld (3rd Place), Eric Maroney (Hon. Mention)
- Kay Murphy Prize for Poetry, Bayou Magazine. Fall 2020. Winner: “Zoom” by Linette Marie Allen
- Gold Line Press Poetry Chapbook Contest, Gold Line Press, Spring 2020. Winner: Apology Engine, by Cameron Quan Louie
I have been involved with the following poetry Organizations:
- Wallace Stevens Poetry Program Committee Member, University of Connecticut. fall 2023- spring 2024.
- Senior Editor, EPC: Electronic Poetry Center. University of Buffalo. 2012-present.
- Member, Advisory Board, POG: Poetry in Action. Tucson, AZ. 2018-present.
- Member, Modern Language Association. New York, NY. 2008-present.
- Member, Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Norfolk, VA. 2013-present.
- Member, Queer Poetics Research Network. Centre for Poetry, Queen Mary University of London. 2020-present.
- Member, Network for New York School Studies. University of Birmingham / University of Reading. 2022-present.
- Mentor, ESB: Emerge-Surface-Be, The Poetry Project. fall 2019-spring 2020.
- Member, Board of Directors, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. 2015-2017. I introduced the category “trans woman” to the VIDA Count and worked with the members of VIDA to create transgender categories for this count, along with a corresponding author questionnaire.
- Officer, LGBT Caucus, AWP: Associated Writing Programs. 2015-2017.
- Member, Board of Directors, POG: Poetry in Action. Tucson, AZ. 2001-2002.
- Poetry Editor, Sonora Review. Tucson, AZ, 2001-2002.
- Editorial Assistant, Wesleyan Poetry Series. Wesleyan University Press. Middletown, CT. Jan 1999 – May 2000.
- Poetry Editor, The Hangman’s Lime. Wesleyan University, 1998-2000.