Shane McCrae
Shane McCrae is an American poet.
McCrae was the recipient of a 2011 Whiting Award, and in 2012 his collection Mule was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a PEN Center USA Literary Award. In 2013, McCrae received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He received a Lannan Literary Award in 2017, in 2018 his collection In the Language of My Captor won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and in 2019 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
His poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, African American Review, Fence, and AGNI.Early life and education
Born in Portland, Oregon, McCrae moved to California when he was 10 years old, and grew up in Texas and California. He was raised by his white grandparents. His biological mother is white and his biological father is black.
He dropped out of high school and later earned a GED certificate. He attended Chemeketa Community College. In 2002, McCrae graduated from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. In 2004, he earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. In 2007, he graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD. In 2012, he earned a Master of Arts from the University of Iowa.Career
McCrae was an assistant professor in the Creative Writing program at Oberlin College 2015–2017 and is an assistant professor in the Creative Writing MFA program at Columbia University.
He is the author of the poetry collections Mule, Blood, Forgiveness Forgiveness, The Animal Too Big to Kill, In the Language of My Captor, and The Gilded Auction Block.Awards
In 2011, McCrae received the Whiting Award, and in 2012 his collection Mule was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a PEN Center USA Literary Award.
The Animal Too Big to Kill won the 2014 Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor's Choice Award.
In the Language of My Captor was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award and a winner of the 2018 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.
McCrae received a Lannan Literary Award in 2018, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019.Works
- The Gilded Auction Block, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2019.,
- In the Language of My Captor Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2017.,
- The Animal Too Big to Kill, New York: Persea Books, 2015.,
- Forgiveness Forgiveness, Hadley, MA: Factory Hollow Press, 2014.,
- Nonfiction, Pittsburgh, PA: Black Lawrence Press, 2014.,
- Blood, Noemi Press, 2013.,
- Mule, Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2011.,
- In Canaan, Milwaukee: Rescue Press, 2010.,
- Sometimes I Never Suffered, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020.
