Born: 1947
Ohio connection: Birth
Steubenville
Poet and writer Richard Hague was born in Steubenville, Ohio, in Appalachian Ohio’s Mahoning Valley. He earned his B.S. in 1969 and his M.A.in 1971 both at Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH. Hague is the author of more than 10 poetry collections and numerous chapbooks; his collected volume, During the Recent Extinctions: New & Selected Poems, 1982-2012, won the 2012 Weatherford Award as the finest book of poetry published in Appalachia that year. His collections of poems include Ripening (1984), for which he was named Ohio Co-Poet of the Year in 1985, Possible Debris (1988), Milltown Natural: Essays And Stories from A Life (a 1997 National Book Award nominee), Garden (2002); Alive In Hard Country (2003) was named 2004 Poetry Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. Other works include Public Hearings (2009), Where Drunk Men Go (2015) and Beasts, River, Drunk Men, Garden, Burst, & Light: Sequences and Long Poems (2016), Studied Days-Poems Early & Late in Appalachia (2017).
Richard Hague has presented professionally at the National Council of Teachers of English, the Ohio Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts, and the Ohio Catholic Education Association. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife Pam Korte.
Awards:
President’s Award in Poetry, Ohio Journal, 1979, for An Unsent Letter of Darwin’s, and 1981, for Moose Ridge Apple Wine; Post-Corbett Award in Literary Arts, Cincinnati Post, 1982, for continuing contribution to the arts in Cincinnati; grant from Greater Cincinnati Foundation, 1984; first prize in professional prose category, Ohio Educational and Library Media Association, 1985, for story Whistling Woman and the Man of Light; named Ohio co-poet of the year by Ohio Poetry Day Association, 1985, for Ripening; first prize in poetry, Ambergris Poetry and Fiction Contest, 1988; Black Swamp Poetry Prize, 1989; grant from National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990; National First Prize, English-Speaking Union, 1994, for writing program; Ohio Arts Council fellow, 1994, 1999; Council for Basic Education fellow, 1995; Marianist Education Consortium grants, 1996, 1998; Learning Links teacher’s grants, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, 1996, 2002-03; 1997 National Book Award nomination for Milltown Natural: Essays and Stories from a Life; Katherine Bakeless Scholar in Nonfiction, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, 1997; first prize, Sow’s Ear Poetry Contest, 1999; the 2012 Weatherford Award for Poetry for During the Recent Extinctions: New & Selected Poems, 1982-2012