Hague, Richard 1947-

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HAGUE, Richard 1947-

PERSONAL: Born August 7, 1947, in Steubenville, OH; son of James R. (an engineer) and Ruth (a homemaker; maiden name, Heights) Hague; married Pamela C. Korte (a potter and teacher), June 24, 1980; children: Patrick, Brendan. Ethnicity: "White." Education: Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, B.S., 1969, M.A., 1971. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: "Science, in particular local geology and archaeology, and the powers and functions of the brain and memory; gardening, which I practice compulsively and yet with great enjoyment."

ADDRESSES: Office—Purcell Marian High School, 2935 Hackberry, Cincinnati, OH 45206; fax: 573-751-1396. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Purcell Marian High School, Cincinnati, OH, teacher of English, 1969—, department chair, 1975—. Xavier University, Cincinnati, adjunct lecturer; Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative, cocoordinator, 1982, 1996; University of Louisville, literary artist at Kentucky Institute for Arts in Education, 1984; Ohio Arts Council, member of literary panel, 1984-87; Appalachian Writers Workshop, member of poetry staff, 1988, 1994; Green River Writers, member of advisory board, 1998—; Fitton Center for the Arts, John P. Kurlas Poet-in-Residence, 2000; Millikin University, visiting writer, 2001. Gives writing workshops and lectures on poetry; judge of writing competitions. Madisonville Community Garden, site manager, 1987-2001.

MEMBER: National Council of Teachers of English, Associated Writing Programs, Appalachian Teachers Network, Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative, Ohio Council Teachers of English and Language Arts, Cincinnati Writers Project.

AWARDS, HONORS: 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; National Book Award nomination, 1997, 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; grants from Ohio Appalachian Arts Initiative and Southern Poverty Law Center, 1999; first prize, Sarasota Poetry Theater Poetry Contest, 1999, for "Soulspeak."

WRITINGS:

Crossings (poetry), Cincinnati Area Poetry Press, 1979.

A Week of Nights down River (poetry), privately printed, 1981.

Ripening (poetry), Ohio State University Press (Columbus, OH), 1984.

Possible Debris (poetry), Poetry Center, Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH), 1988.

Mill and Smoke Marrow (poetry), Bottom Dog Press (Huron, OH), 1991.

In a Red Shadow of Steel Mills (poetry), Bottom Dog Press (Huron, OH), 1991.

A Bestiary (poetry), Pudding House Publications (Johnstown, OH), 1996.

Milltown Natural: Essays and Stories from a Life, Bottom Dog Press (Huron, OH), 1997.

Greatest Hits, 1968-2000, Pudding House Publications (Johnstown, OH), 2001.

Garden (poetry), Word Press (Cincinnati, OH), 2002.

Into the Light (poetry), Word Press (Cincinnati, OH), 2003.

Work represented in anthologies, including Old Wounds, New Words, Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1994; Appalachia Inside Out, University of Tennessee Press, 1995; Coffeehouse Poetry Anthology, Bottom Dog Press, 1996; Down Home, down Town: Urban Appalachians Today, Kendall-Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1996; and I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio, edited by Elton Glaser and William Greenway, University of Akron Press (Akron, OH), 2002. Columnist, Word, 1997-99; creativity columnist, Personal Journaling, 2001-02. Contributor of articles, essays, poetry, short stories, and reviews to periodicals, including Appalachian Heritage, Country Journal, Creative Nonfiction, English Journal, Gambit, Kiosk, Laurel Review, Open Places, Poetry, and Wooster Review. Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel: Contemporary Appalachian Writing, poetry editor, 1986, editor and publisher, 1996-2001; poetry editor, Soaptown: Magazine of Cincinnati Writing member of editorial board, Appalachian Connection, 1998-99, and Down the River: A Collection of Ohio River Prose and Poetry.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Poetry collections, including Lives of the Poem and Alive in Hard Country; Aquavitae, a short-story collection; House Hold, a creative nonfiction collection; Earnest Occupation, an essay collection.

SIDELIGHTS: Richard Hague once told CA that one of the most important events of his career "was the growing realization that I came from a specific and interesting place, that I was an Ohioan, a border Appalachian, and that these places had value and significance. Becoming aware of my own roots, I lived alone on Greenbrier Ridge in southeastern Ohio for several summers, and it was these stays, and their attendant lessons, that shaped me early in my career, and continue to do so now. Recently, I have centered even more: now I am a resident of Madisonville, an old neighborhood in Cincinnati, and I am a husband and father and gardener there. These, too, shape my work more and more. I try to celebrate the local; I try to find in the commonly overlooked or misapprehended detail some significance that may allow me to speak to people elsewhere, to reach them where they live.

"My major areas of vocational interest are the teaching of writing, both prose and poetry; studying and teaching the literature of place, so-called regional literature, discovering in it the universal."