Frym, Gloria

Born in 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, Frym studied writing with Robert Creeley at the University of New Mexico and later moved to San Francisco to teach creative writing at the New College of California. She has taught creative writing in the San Francisco county jail system, at the California College of the Arts, Western Connecticut State University, and the Naropa Institute.

Biography

Gloria Frym was born in 1947, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, California. She earned her MA and BA degrees at the University of New Mexico, studying with Robert Creeley. In the early part of her career, she taught creative writing to inmates in the San Francisco county jail systems and with the work furlough programs. Her book, HOW I LEARNED (1992), resulted from her work with the prison inmates, and was funded by several grants from the California Arts Council.

Her first poetry book, IMPOSSIBLE AFFECTION, was published in 1979. During the same time period, she received a grant to write SECOND STORIES: WOMEN ARTISTS WHOSE CAREERS BEGAN AFTER THIRTY-FIVE (1979), a book of interviews which included Helene Aylon, Frances Jaffer, and Cherry Jackson.

Frym eventually moved to Berkeley from Albuquerque and began teaching creative writing at the New College of California in San Francisco as core faculty in the poetics program from 1987-2002. During this time, she became interested in elements of "language" poetry and began writing prose poems, developing into the prose narrative.

She received a Fund for Poetry Award, The Walter and Elise Haas Creative Work Fund Grant, and the San Francisco State University Poetry Book Award. Her collection of poetry HOMELESS AT HOME (2001) won the American Book Award in 2002. She has also published essays, articles, interviews, and reviews in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, the BALTIMORE SUN, and SENTENCE: A JOURNAL OF PROSE POETICS. Her published poetry collections also include SOLUTION SIMULACRA (2006) and LOST SAPPHO POEMS (2007).

Frym is an associate professor in the MFA and BA writing and literature programs at the California College of the Arts in the Bay Area, and also visiting faculty at Western Connecticut State University and the Naropa Institute.