CV

NEIL TANGAROA AITKEN

neil.aitken@gmail.com

EDUCATION

  • 2013     Ph.D. in Literature & Creative Writing, University of Southern California.
  • 2006     M.F.A. in Creative Writing (poetry, fiction, translation), University of California, Riverside.
  • 1999     B.S. in Computer Science, Mathematics minor, Brigham Young University.

DISSERTATIONS

  • Creative: Babbage's Dream, a book of poems. Individual poems have appeared in literary journals.
  • Critical: "Thinking Machines and Mechanized Minds: Artificial Intelligences in Nineteenth-Century Literature"
  • Directors: David St. John, Hilary Schor.

PUBLICATIONS


BOOKS/Poetry:
  • The Lost Country of Sight. Anhinga Press, 2008. (2007 Philip Levine Prize)
BOOKS/Translation:
  • The Book of Cranes: Selected Poems of Zang Di. Co-translated with Ming Di. Forthcoming
Poetry in Anthologies:
  • "Letter Fifty"; "The Art of Forgetting"; "Burials"; "pointer"; "conditional." Fire in the Pasture: 21st Century Mormon Poets. Peculiar Pages Press, 2011
  • "array." Don't Blame the Ugly Mug: Ten Years of Two Idiots Peddling Poetry. Tebot Bach Press, 2011
  • "Things Left Behind." Aspects of Robinson: Homage to Weldon Kees. Ed. Christopher Buckley, Christopher Howell, The Backwaters Press, 2011
  • "conditional"; "pointer." The Loudest Voice. Loudest Voice Books, 2010
  • "Kundiman That Will Not Be Silenced." Here is a Pen: An Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets. Achiote Press, 2010
  • "Traveling Through the Prairies, I Think of My Father's Voice." The Best of Mormonism 2009. Curelom Books, 2009
  • "After Neruda"; "Pomelo." Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California Poets. Tebot Bach Press, 2006
  • "A Winter's Day Like Any Other." Homage to Vallejo. Greenhouse Review Press, 2006
  • "Forgetting to Fill Up in Saskatoon." Literary Angles. Sybaritic Press, 2005
Poetry in Literary Journals:
  • "memory"; "recursion," Lantern Review. Forthcoming.
  • "loop," Tuesday: An Art Project. Forthcoming.
  • "Babbage Leaving Turin by Coach, 1840," RHINO. Forthcoming.
  • "extern," Iron Horse Literary Review. Forthcoming.
  • "Alpha60 Speaks of Fear"; "Babbage, Troubled by Vision at His Wife's Grave, 1827." The Collagist. 26 (Sep 2011). Web
  • "Programmer F, Descending," Weave Magazine, 3 (Oct 2009). Print.
  • "array"; "pointer," diode, 2.3 (May 2009). Web.
  • "In Hsin Chu" (reprint), Sunstone, 153 (Feb 2009). Print.
  • "enumeration," Ninth Letter, 5.2 (Fall 2008-Winter 2009). Print.
  • "In the Long Dream of Exile" (reprint), Ecotone Blog / Reimagining Place, (Feb 22, 2008). Web.
  • "An Hour Before Arriving, I See Home," Pebble Lake Review (Spring 2008). Print.
  • "Traveling Through the Prairies, I Think of My Father's Voice,"Barn Owl Review, 1 (Spring 2008). Print.
  • "My Father as Landscape"; "“Halfway";” "“How We Are Saved," Rock & Sling, 4.2 (Winter 2007). Print.
  • "I Dream My Father on the Shore," Sou'wester, 36.1 (Fall 2007). Print.
  • "comment"; "conditional," Redactions, 8/9 (Jun 2007). Print.
  • "Elegy for Grey,"Stirring 9.6 (Jun 2007). Web.
  • "Four Hours to Taipei"; "Cycling in the Dark"; "Gift"; "Kite Flying," Concelebratory Shoehorn Review, (May 2007). Web.
  • "Letter Ten"; "Letter Fifty," DMQ Review, (Summer 2007). Web.
  • "How the World Fits Together"; "In the Long Dream of Exile"; "The Memory Theatre," The Drunken Boat, (Spring 2007). Web
  • "After Neruda" (reprint), Poetry Southeast, (Spring 2007). Web.
  • "All the Names of Children and Homes We May Never Know"; "The Art of Forgetting"; "At the End of Poetry"; "Ghost Passport"; "In Hsin Chu," MiPOesias, (Jan 2007). Web.
  • "Letter from Home"; "Fridge," Spillway, 13 (Dec 2006). Print.
  • "Prodigal," Crab Orchard Review, 11.2 (Fall 2006). Print.
  • "In the Country I Call Home"; "What I Know About Abstraction," Portland Review, 53.2 (Fall 2006). Print.
  • "For the Drowned," Silk Road, 1.1 (Jun 2006). Print.
  • "Considering Photography"; "Seeking Shelter at -50"; "To the Street Musician," Avatar Review, 8 (May 2006). Web.
  • "Letter to the Unknown Wife,"Washington Square, 17 (Spring 2006). Print.
  • "Outside Plato's Republic the Last Poets Wait for Departure," RHINO (2006). Print.
  • "For Sal Paradise, Lost in America"; "After Neruda"; "Bad Sestina," Beyond the Valley of Contemporary Poets, (2004) Print.
  • "Counting Winters in Los Angeles"; "Jericho," Poetic Diversity, 2.4 (Nov 2004). Web.
  • "Adrift," Prairie Poetry, (Jun 2004). Web.
  • "Sun Dance," Prairie Poetry, (Apr 2004). Web.
  • "Forgetting to Fill Up in Saskatoon," Prairie Poetry, (Dec 2003). Web.
  • "Man Pulled from the Earth (El Salvador)," Quill & Parchment, (Jan 2003). Web.
  • "Shaman," Quill & Parchment, (Aug 2001). Web.
  • "Burials"; "Birth," Inscape, 19.1 (Fall 1999). Print.
  • "Time Enfolding Time," Anagram, 5.1 (Fall 1998). Print.
Translations of Contemporary Chinese Poetry in Literary Journals:
  • Six poems by Zhu Yu, Li Hao, Zhang Zhihao, and Liu Jiemin, Poetry East West, Volume 2. Jun 2011.
  • Eight poems by Yang Xiaobin, Yu Xiang, and Sun Wenbo, Poetry East West, Volume 1. Dec 2010.
COLLABORATIONS/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.
COLLABORATIONS/Film & Animation:
  • "LIBANGBANG," animation short by Chia-Chi Tseng, poem text "Orchid Island" written by Neil Aitken. Fall 2010.

FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS AND AWARDS

Poetry:
  • Nominated for Pushcart Prize by Anhinga Press, 2009.
  • AML Poetry Prize, Association for Mormon Letters, 2009.
  • 2007 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, California State University Fresno & Anhinga Press, 2008.
  • Kundiman Poetry Fellow, Kundiman Organization & Writing Retreat, 2008.
  • Finalist, May Swenson Poetry Prize, Utah State University Press, 2007.
  • Semi-Finalist, Elixir Press Prize, Elixir Press, 2007.
  • Nominated for Pushcart Prize by DMQ Review, 2007.
  • Nominated for Pushcart Prize by Redactions, 2007.
  • Kundiman Poetry Fellow, Kundiman Organization & Writing Retreat, 2006.
  • Semi-Finalist, Elixir Press Prize, Elixir Press, 2006.
  • Semi-Finalist, Brittingham-Pollak Prizes, University of Wisconsin Press, 2005
  • Kundiman Poetry Fellow, Kundiman Organization & Writing Retreat, 2005.
  • Nominated for Pushcart Prize, 2005.
  • Friends' Prize, Prairie Poetry, 2004
  • 2nd Place, Inscape Poetry Competition, 1999.
  • Honorable Mention, Brigham Young University Eisteddfod, 1999.
Academic:
  • Pass with distinction, Ph.D. qualifying exam, English Department, University of Southern California, 2011.
  • Giles-Siebert Summer Fellowship, English Department, University of Southern California, 2010.
  • Merit Fellowship, English Department, University of Southern California, 2007 & 2010.
  • Dean's Fellowship & Stipend, Creative Writing Department, University of California, Riverside, 2004.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • University of Southern California, Assistant Lecturer, Fall 2008-Spring 2010, Fall 2011-Present
        Writing 140: Writing & Critical Reasoning (undergraduate composition), (5 semesters)
  • University of California, Riverside, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Fall 2005-Spring 2006
        Creative Writing 056: Introduction to Creative Writing, (3 quarters)

EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE

  • Contributing Editor, Poetry East West, Nov 2010-Present.
  • Editor-in-Chief, Boxcar Poetry Review, (founder) Dec 2005-Present.
  • Co-Editor-in-Chief, CRATE, Jul 2005-Jun 2006.
  • Assistant Poetry Editor, CRATE, Aug 2004-Jul 2005.
  • Book Designer & Print Layout Editor, CRATE, Aug 2004-Jul 2005.

PANELS, PRESENTATIONS, & LECTURES

  • "Kundiman from Community to Communities: Reaching out from the Writers' Retreat" (panel),
       AWP Conference, Washington, DC. 2011.
  • "Smashing the Box: Fresh Faces and First Books by Asian American Poets" (panel),
       AWP Conference, Washington, DC. 2011.
  • "Kundiman Kindles the Flame: New Asian American Poetry" (panel), AWP Conference, Chicago, IL. 2009.

RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Poetry Workshop Leader, Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, Los Angeles, CA. June 2011 (one day).
  • Poetry Workshop Leader, Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA. September-October 2010 (weekly).
  • Poetry Workshop Leader, Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, Los Angeles, CA. June 2010 (one day).
  • Reader, Poetry Chapbook Contest, Goldline Press, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. 2010.
  • Poetry Workshop Leader, EngAGE Active Learning, Villa Anaheim, Anaheim, CA. June 2009 (two days).
  • Poetry Workshop Leader, Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA. Summer 2008 (weekly).
  • Poetry Contest Judge, Prism Review, University of LaVerne, 2008.
  • Board of Directors, Valley of Contemporary Poets, Los Angeles, CA, 2005-2006.

LANGUAGES

  • English, Mandarin Chinese

REFERENCES

  • Available on request