Ph.D. English Literature & Creative Writing. 2012 (planned)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
M.F.A. Creative Writing. 2006 University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA.
B.S. Computer Science. 1999 Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
EXPERIENCE
UNIVERSITIES/WRITING PROGRAMS:
2008-Present: Assistant Lecturer. Writing & Critical Reasoning. Writing Program. University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA
2005-2006: Graduate Teaching Assistant. Introduction to Creative Writing. Department of Creative Writing. University of California-Riverside. Riverside, CA
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS/Poetry:
The Lost Country of Sight. Anhinga Press 2008. (2007 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry)
BOOKS/Anthologies:
Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California Poets. Tebot Bach Press, 2006
Homage to Vallejo. Greenhouse Review Press, 2006
Literary Angles. Sybaritic Press, 2005
MAGAZINES & JOURNALS:
"Here and There," "The Center of Memory," "Hermit," "Litany," and "The Mortician's Bookkeeper,"
LocusPoint, forthcoming.
"Programmer F, Descending," Weave Magazine, Oct 2009.
"array" and "pointer," diode, May 2009.
"In Hsin Chu" (reprint), Sunstone, Feb 2009.
"enumeration," Ninth Letter, Volume 5, Issue 2. Fall 2008-Winter 2009.
"In the Long Dream of Exile" (reprint), Ecotone Blog / Reimagining Place, Feb 22, 2008.
"An Hour Before Arriving, I See Home," Pebble Lake Review, Spring 2008.
"Traveling Through the Prairies, I Think of My Father's Voice,"Barn Owl Review, Volume 1. Spring 2008.
"My Father as Landscape,” “Halfway,” and “How We Are Saved," Rock & Sling, Volume 4, Issue 2.
Winter 2007.
"I Dream My Father on the Shore," Sou'wester, Volume 36, Issue 1. Fall 2007.
"comment" and "conditional," Redactions, Issue 8/9. Jun 2007.
"Elegy for Grey,"Stirring, Jun 2007.
"Four Hours to Taipei," "Cycling in the Dark," "Gift," and "Kite Flying," Concelebratory Shoehorn Review,
May 2007.
"Letter Ten" and "Letter Fifty," DMQ Review, Spring & Summer 2007.
"How the World Fits Together," "In the Long Dream of Exile," and "The Memory Theatre," The Drunken Boat,
Spring 2007.
"After Neruda" (reprint), Poetry Southeast, Spring 2007.
"All the Names of Children and Homes We May Never Know," "The Art of Forgetting," "At the End of Poetry,"
"Ghost Passport," and "In Hsin Chu," MiPOesias, Jan 2007.
"Letter from Home" and "Fridge," Spillway, Volume 13. Dec 2006.
"Prodigal," Crab Orchard Review, Volume 11, Issue 2. Fall 2006.
"In the Country I Call Home" and "What I Know About Abstraction," Portland Review, Volume 53, Issue 2.
Fall 2006.
"For the Drowned," Silk Road, Volume 1, Issue 1. Jun 2006.
"Considering Photography," "Seeking Shelter at -50," and "To the Street Musician," Avatar Review, Volume 8.
May 2006.
"Letter to the Unknown Wife,"Washington Square, Volume 17. Spring 2006.
"Outside Plato's Republic the Last Poets Wait for Departure," RHINO, 2006.
"For Sal Paradise, Lost in America," "After Neruda," and "Bad Sestina," Beyond the Valley of Contemporary Poets, 2004.
"Counting Winters in Los Angeles" and "Jericho," Poetic Diversity, Volume 2, Issue 4. Nov 2004.
"Adrift," Prairie Poetry, Jun 2004.
"Sun Dance," Prairie Poetry, Apr 2004.
"Forgetting to Fill Up in Saskatoon," Prairie Poetry, Dec 2003.
"Man Pulled from the Earth (El Salvador)," Quill & Parchment, Jan 2003.
"Shaman," Quill & Parchment, Aug 2001.
"Burials" and "Birth," Inscape, Volume 19, Issue 1. Fall 1999.
"Questions for the Garbage Man," Naranjas y Nopales, Fall 2005.
POEMS SET TO MUSIC:
"The Lost Country of Sight," suite (based on "Kite Flying," "Halfway," "Credo," and "I Dream My Father
on the Shore"), music by Juhi Bansal, (piano, percussion, cello, and voice). Fall 2008.
"Elegy," music by Zhou Tian, (piano and voice). Spring 2008.
"Elegy," music by Charlie Shipley, (piano and voice). Spring 2008.
"Halfway," music by Juhi Bansal, (piano, percussion, cello, and voice). Spring 2008.
"Babbage's Dream," (based on "array"), music by Ivor Warren Francis, (piano, vibraphone, harp,
and 2 voices). Spring 2008.
CURRENT PROJECTS:
Babbage's Dream, poems which explore the themes of exile and beauty in the world of computers
and computer programming. (manuscript-in-progress)
INTERVIEWS:
"PR Contemporary Interview with Neil Aitken," Prism Review, Issue 11, Spring 2009.
"Interview With 2007 Philip Levine Prize Winner - Neil Aitken, author of The Lost Country of Sight,"
Neil Aitken interviewed by Marcus Chinn for Fresno Famous. Nov 20, 2008.
HONORS & AWARDS
Nomination, Pushcart Prize XXXIII, (for poems in The Lost Country of Sight) 2009.
Anhinga Press.