Bly, Carol

Carolyn McLean was born in Duluth on April 16, 1930. She attended private school in North Carolina and obtained her B.A. in English and history at Wellesley College in 1951. She taught at Carleton College, Hamline University, University of Minnesota, and the Vermont Studio Center. She married poet Robert Bly in 1955 (later divorced) and published Fifties and Sixties literary magazines with her husband.

Her publications include: Letters from the Country ; The Passionate, Accurate Story: Making Your Heart’s Truth into Literature ; Beyond the Writer’s Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction ; An Adolescent’s Christmas: 1944 ; and My Lord Bag of Rice: New and Collected Stories .

Awards that Bly has received include: Edelstein-Keller Author of Distinction, University of Minnesota 1998-99; Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Northland College 1992; Minnesota Book Award 1991; Minnesota Women’s Press Favorite Woman Author 2000; Minnesota Humanities Award for Literature 2001.

From the guide to the Carol Bly papers, 1936-2003, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Literary Manuscripts Collection, Manuscripts Division [mss])