CHRISTOPHER BRIAN MARTIN

Curriculum Vitae

[email protected]

www.christopher-martin.net

BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Martin is author of This Gladdening Light: An Ecology of Fatherhood and Faith, which won the 2015 Will D. Campbell Award in Creative Nonfiction and will be published by Mercer University Press in 2017. He is also author of the poetry collections Marcescence: Poems from Gahneesah (Finishing Line Press, 2014), Everything Turns Away: Poems from Acworth and the Allatoonas (La Vita Poetica Press, 2014), and A Conference of Birds (New Native Press, 2012).

Chris’s work has appeared in publications across the country, including American Public Media’s On Being, Broad River Review, Buddhist Poetry Review, Loose Change, McSweeney’s, Pilgrimage, Poecology, Ruminate Magazine, Shambhala Sun, Still: The Journal, Thrush Poetry Journal, and Waccamaw. His poems are anthologized in Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry (University of South Carolina Press, 2016), The World is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins (Clemson University Press, forthcoming), Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems (Negative Capability Press, 2015), and The Southern Poetry Anthology (Texas Review Press, 2012).

Chris is the editor of Flycatcher, a contributing editor at New Southerner, and winner of the 2014 George Scarbrough Award for Poetry. He is an instructor of English at Georgia Highlands College, the creative nonfiction instructor at the Appalachian Young Writers Workshop, and a board member of the Acworth Cultural Arts Center. In this latter capacity, he founded and hosts SHORE: Acworth’s Creative Reading Series. Chris holds an MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University, where he was recognized as the 2013 Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year and winner of the 2014 Robert W. Hill Award in Graduate Writing. He lives with his wife and their two young children in northwest Georgia, between the Allatoona Range and Kennesaw Mountain.

MARTIN CV 1

EDUCATION

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Kennesaw State University, 2013

 Field of Study: Professional Writing  Concentration: Creative Writing  Secondary Concentrations: Applied Writing and Composition/Rhetoric  Thesis: Second Coming on South Cobb Drive: Poems Now titled All Formations, All Creatures, Second Coming on South Cobb Drive is a full-length poetry collection that is nearing publication, having placed highly in national competitions.  As a result of my work in this program, I was named a University Scholar and 2013 Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year. I also earned the 2013 – 2014 Robert W. Hill Award in Graduate Writing and graduated with honors.  Dr. H. William Rice, English Department Chair at Kennesaw State, presented my achievements in the MAPW program as representative of the English Department, and indeed the entire College of Humanities and Social Sciences, at Kennesaw State University’s 2014 All Boards Day.

Bachelor of Science in Middle Grades Education Kennesaw State University, 2009

 Field of Study: Middle Grades Education  Concentrations: English and Social Studies

CURRENT POSITIONS

Instructor of English, Georgia Highlands College. August 2014 – Present. Part-time.

Creative Nonfiction Instructor, Appalachian Young Writers Workshop, in conjunction with Humanities Tennessee. Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN. June 2014 – Present. Part-time. This is a weeklong residential workshop that takes place each June. The 2016 workshop will be my third summer with AYWW, and my involvement is ongoing.

Freelance Editor, Allatoona Creative. August 2010 – Present. Part-time. I have edited projects in multiple genres—including academic essays, poetry collections, novels, and children’s books—for writers of varying levels of experience. A novella that I copyedited was featured on WABE in October 2015. I am able to provide testimonials on request.

VOLUNTEER POSITIONS IN LITERARY SERVICE AND STEWARDSHIP

Board Member, Acworth Cultural Arts Center. December 2015 – Present. I am primarily responsible for coordinating the ACAC’s literary initiatives, as well as providing input on and assisting with various other functions of this community-oriented non-profit organization. www.acworthculturalarts.org

Program Coordinator, Allatoona Book Festival. December 2015 – Present. The inaugural Allatoona Book Festival will take place in Acworth, GA, in October 2016. I supported its inception, scheduled its keynote (Janisse Ray), and wrote much of the content for a $2,000 grant that the

MARTIN CV 2

Georgia Humanities Council recently awarded to the Acworth Cultural Arts Center to make the Allatoona Book Festival a reality.

Founder and Coordinator, SHORE: Acworth’s Creative Reading Series. December 2015 – Present. Set in downtown Acworth and backed by the Acworth Cultural Arts Center, SHORE is a monthly reading series I founded to support the literary arts and nurture community through shared passion for the written word. I direct the creative vision for the series, schedule readers, and assist with promotion and hosting.

Founding Editor, Flycatcher. June 2011 – Present. Flycatcher is an award-winning online art and literary journal driven by the themes of empathy, ecology, and belonging. I direct its team of volunteer editors and am responsible for the journal’s creative direction, content, and promotion, in addition to publishing each issue. www.flycatcherjournal.org

Contributing Editor, New Southerner. July 2012 – Present. New Southerner is an online magazine promoting environmental stewardship and local economies. I write a commissioned blog—Kairos and Crisis: Race, Religion, and Social Justice in the South—for New Southerner, and also contribute book reviews and assist with editing. www.newsoutherner.com

STUDENT SERVICE

Success Coach, Georgia Highlands College. August 2015 – Present. As a volunteer member of GHC’s Success Coaching Initiative, I assist a group of first-year students for two semesters at a time, serving as their point of contact and mentor.

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Editorial Assistant, The Southern Poetry Anthology. August 2013 – August 2015. A multi-volume anthology featuring contemporary poetry of the American South.

Poetry Workshop Instructor, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. “Place: Literal and Psychological Landscapes,” co-taught with Rosemary Royston. Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN. June 2013.

Media Outreach, One For Ten. February – August 2013. An award-winning film series about innocence and the death penalty.

Special Education Teacher, Cobb County Schools. August – December 2009.

Special Education Paraprofessional, Cobb County Schools. August 2006 – May 2008.

MARTIN CV 3

BOOK PUBLICATIONS

NONFICTION

This Gladdening Light: An Ecology of Fatherhood and Faith Full-Length Essay Collection Winner of the 2015 Will D. Campbell Award in Creative Nonfiction Mercer University Press, forthcoming 2017

POETRY

Marcescence: Poems from Gahneesah (co-authored with David King) Chapbook Finishing Line Press, 2014

Everything Turns Away Chapbook La Vita Poetica Press, 2014

A Conference of Birds Chapbook New Native Press, 2012

Everything Turns Away and A Conference of Birds are permanently housed at Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

POETRY

Anthologized Poems

 “Parable of the Red-tailed Hawks.” The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins (Clemson University Press, forthcoming).  “Parable of the Carolina Chickadee.” Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry (University of South Carolina Press, 2016).  “Visiting Wildman’s Civil War Surplus and Herb Shop.” Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry (University of South Carolina Press, 2016).  “Marcescence.” Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems (Negative Capability Press, 2015).  “Second Coming on South Cobb Drive.” Thrush Poetry Journal: An Anthology of the First Two Years (Thrush Press, 2014).  “At the Periodic Table Display, Tellus Science Museum, Cartersville, Georgia.” Thrush Poetry Journal: An Anthology of the First Two Years (Thrush Press, 2014).  “Revelation on the Cherokee County Line.” The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia (Texas Review Press, 2012).  “Antidote to Narcissus.” The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia (Texas Review Press, 2012).

MARTIN CV 4

Poems as Broadsides

 “The Wish to Sing with Primitives Baptists” (La Vita Poetica Press, forthcoming).  “My Children Pile Sticks on a Headstone” (Occasional Snakes Press, 2014).  “Marcescence” (Thrush Press, 2012).

Poems in Journals and Other Media

 “After St. Francis.” Sanctuary (2016).  “Hummingbird, New Hope McDonald’s.” Sanctuary (2016).  “Shady Dale Nirvana.” Sanctuary (2016).  “Jethro.” Sanctuary (2016).  “Catching Salamanders at Indian Grave Gap.” Bridge Eight (2015).  “Psalm 139.” Broad River Review (2015).  “My Children Pile Sticks on a Headstone.” Old Red Kimono (2015).  “Silence at New Echota.” Old Red Kimono (2015).  “Feeding American Bison at the Yellow River Game Ranch.” Poecology (2014).  “Listening to Fables on Old 41.” Raven Chronicles (2014).  “Two Possums.” The Best of Loose Change Magazine (2014).  “The Nuthatch.” Calamaro (2014.)  “My Daughter Laughs in Her Sleep.” Menacing Hedge (2014).  “You Have Turned My Mourning into Dancing.” Menacing Hedge (2014).  “A Privy on the Appalachian Trail.” Menacing Hedge (2014).  “My Old Man Turns Off Lithium.” Menacing Hedge (2014).  “Incarnation on the Fall Line Highway.” Menacing Hedge (2014).  “The Fox.” Menacing Hedge (2014).  “Ringneck Snake, Lake Acworth Trail.” Town Creek Poetry (2014).  “Parable of the Kingfisher.” Town Creek Poetry (2014).  “Parable of the Hummingbird.” Town Creek Poetry (2014).  “Gulf Fritillaries, Allatoona Creek.” Sugar Mule (2014).  “Conversion at Owl Creek.” Sugar Mule (2014).  “At the Etowah Mounds.” LETTERS (2014).  “Sabbath of the Sulphurs.” Pilgrimage (2014).  “The Wish to Sing with Primitive Baptists.” The Good Men Project (2014).  “Stoneroller in the Hiawassee.” The Good Men Project (2014).  “Icarus at Lake Acworth.” Waccamaw: A Journal of Contemporary Literature (2013).  “At the Periodic Table Display, Tellus Science Museum, Cartersville, Georgia.” Thrush Poetry Journal (2013).  “Turning Up Nirvana at 30.” Hobble Creek Review (2013).  “Footnote to Genesis 3:24.” St. Sebastian Review (2013).  “My Son Covers His Ears in Church.” St. Sebastian Review (2013).  “Parable of the Barred Owl.” New Southerner (2013).  “Battle Hymn: Highway 41, South.” Red Clay Review (2013).  “Prayer for the Anawim.” New Southerner (2012).  “Strolling the Dead Angle.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Revelation on the Cherokee County Line.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Deer Crossing Old Mountain Road.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).

MARTIN CV 5

 “A Church Sign on Summers Street.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “The Wish to Sing with Primitive Baptists.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Sunset at Pigeon Hill.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Resurrection in a Battlefield below Kennesaw Mountain.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Buzzards at Allatoona Pass.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “There is Grace Dwelling at the Edges of Our Imposition.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Crossing the Altamaha.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Second Coming on South Cobb Drive.” Thrush Poetry Journal (2012).  “My Son Points to a Confederate Flag and Asks What It Is.” the museum of americana: a literary review (2012).  “Parable of the Carolina Chickadee.” Still: The Journal (2012).  “Parable of the Flycatcher.” Still: The Journal (2012).  “Meditation on a Little Boy Touching His Face.” Loose Change Magazine (2012).  “Thoreau’s Last Words.” Poecology (2012).  “Fishing St. Andrew’s Sound.” Pale Ale Press (2012).  “Sex at Noses Creek.” Byron Herbert Reece Society Website (2012).  “Praise Song for Darkness.” Buddhist Poetry Review (2012).  “September 21, 2011.” Buddhist Poetry Review (2012).  “On Chickasaw Road.” Drafthorse (2012).  “Parable of the Wren.” Drafthorse (2012).  “Penuel.” Share Art and Literary Magazine (2011).  “Upper Alabama Homily.” Loose Change Magazine (2011).  “Antidote to Narcissus.” Ruminate Magazine (2011).  “Conference of the Birds.” Loose Change Magazine (2011).  “Two Possums.” Loose Change Magazine (2010).  “Hawks.” Share Art and Literary Magazine (2009).  “Chattahoochee Prayer.” Share Art and Literary Magazine (2008).  “Persimmons.” Share Art and Literary Magazine (2008).

NONFICTION

Essays in Journals and Other Media

 “Original Sound.” Sanctuary (2016).  “American Bestiary” (Photography and Text). Lime Hawk (2015).  “Phos Hilaron.” The Best of Loose Change Magazine (2014).  “On Byron Herbert Reece’s ‘Mountain Fiddler.’” Shambhala Sun (2013).  “Clemency on Common Ground: Why the Case of Warren Hill Should Matter to Us All.” One For Ten (2013).  “Fragments from Emmaus Road: Notes of a Hesitant Faith.” Parable Press (2013).  “Earthly Evidence: Sacredness of Place in the Poetry of Byron Herbert Reece.” Town Creek Poetry (2012).  “Assaying a Garden.” Loose Change Magazine (2012).  “Formed by Water.” Adventum (2012).  “Treasure This Ecstasy.” Revolution House (2012).  “He Who Planted Pines with God.” Drafthorse (2012).  “Sowing New Mustard Seeds: The Moral Question of Mountaintop Removal.” New Southerner (2011).  “A Declaration of Flowers: Thoughts on Byron Herbert Reece’s ‘Easter.’” American Public Media’s On Being (2011).

MARTIN CV 6

 “Walking the Whitetail.” Still: The Journal (2011).  “Phos Hilaron.” Loose Change Magazine (2010).

Blog

 Kairos and Crisis. A commissioned blog on race, religion, and social justice in the South, published by New Southerner (July 2012 – Present). o “Reckoning These Ruins: White Structure, White Silence, and Regard for Black Lives” (August 2015). o “Parable of the Barred Owl” (April 2013). o “Walking Around Shining” (March 2013). o “Prayer for the Anawim” (December 2012). o “Knowing There are Stains: Some Thoughts on Racism and the Presidency” (December 2012). o “A Word on My Religious Roots” (September 2012). o “To Every Intemperate Peter: Warren Lee Hill and the Failure of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles” (July 2012). o “Questions of Monk and Martyr: Race, Religion, and Social Justice in the South” (July 2012).

Interviews

 As Interviewer o “Speak Against the Silences: An Interview with Natasha Trethewey.” Atlanta Review (2013.) I assisted William Wright with this in-person interview of then U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey in Decatur, GA. I performed research for the interview, wrote many of the questions that went on to be in the interview, and helped edit the interview once complete. o “Interview with William Kelley Woolfitt.” r.k.v.r.y quarterly (2013).

 As Interviewee o “Go to the Ground: An Interview with Christopher Martin.” Conducted by Kristi Moos. Poecology (2015). o “An Interview with Christopher Martin.” Conducted by William Kelley Woolfitt. Speaking of Marvels: Interviews about Chapbooks, Novellas, and Other Shorter Forms (2014). o “All Things Strange: An Interview with Christopher Martin.” Conducted by Alex Gallo-Brown. Published in conjunction with the release of The Best of Loose Change. Loose Change Magazine (2014). o “We Line Our Nests through Literature and Art: An Interview with Christopher Martin.” Conducted by Stanley Trice. The Review Review (2013). o “An Interview with Featured Poet Christopher Martin.” Interview conducted by William Wright. Town Creek Poetry (2012).

Reviews and Blurbs

 I provided a blurb for the cover of Sandra Marchetti’s hybrid chapbook Sight Lines (Speaking of Marvels Press, forthcoming).  I provided a blurb for the cover of Kathleen Brewin Lewis’s poetry chapbook July’s Thick Kingdom (FutureCycle Press, 2015).  I provided a blurb for the cover of Sally Zaino’s poetry chapbook Hard Frost (Finishing Line Press, 2013), winner of FLP’s 2013 New Women’s Voices Series competition.  “Janisse Ray’s A House of Branches.” Book Review. New Southerner (2011).

MARTIN CV 7

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

 Panelist (Projected), “Writing across Race without Cultural Appropriation, Magical Natives, or White Saviors” (Proposed and Submitted). AWP Conference. Washington Convention Center. Washington, D.C. February 2017. Note: I was invited by panel chair Anjali Enjeti to participate in this panel, which has been proposed and submitted, for AWP 2017. Other projected panelists include Simona Suprekar, Valerie Woods, and Soniah Komal. Overview: “When writers write across race in fiction, nonfiction and film, they sometimes employ harmful plot devices like magical natives (characters who enlighten a white character about his own humanity), white saviors (characters who rescue characters of color), and/or appropriate a historically marginalized community’s culture. Good craft demands far more. This panel will discuss how to create fresh plots and complex characters, and how to avoid writing racial stereotypes. Diversity in publishing starts in the work itself, in crafting fully realized characters and nuanced plots, free from racial stereotypes. Writing across race is an arduous undertaking. This panel will help writers understand the challenges and provide a space to discuss these issues in their own writing.”  Panelist, “The Three Pillars of Poetic Practice.” Red Clay Writers Conference. Kennesaw State University. Kennesaw, GA. May 2016.  Panelist, “The Poets of La Vita Poetica Press.” National Graduate Creative Writing Conference. University of West Georgia. Carrolton, GA. March 2014.  Panel Chair, “Graduate Students’ Poets’ Circle: A Dialectic of Dark and Light: Poetry, Place, and Social Justice.” Featuring graduate student poets from Vanderbilt University, George Mason University, Georgia State University, and the University of Louisiana at Lafeyette. SAMLA. Atlanta, GA. November 2013.  Featured Poet, “The Southern Poetry Anthology Series: A Reading.” SAMLA. Atlanta, GA. November 2013.

READINGS

As Participant

 Bridge Eight: A Night of Poetry. Featured Reader. Georgia Center for the Book. DeKalb County Public Library. Decatur, GA. May 2016.  Kennesaw Mountain Saturday Lecture Series. Featured Author. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Kennesaw, GA. April 2016.  Georgia Writers’ Panel. Featured Reader. Reinhardt University/Funk Heritage Center. Waleska, GA. March 2016.  Tipple + Poesy. Featured Poet. Tipple + Rose Tea Parlor. Atlanta, GA. December 2015.  Arts at Allatoona: An Evening of Georgia Poetry. Organizer and Reader. Herron’s Coffee and Wine Bar. Acworth, GA. December 2015.  Decatur Book Festival. Featured Poet. Local Poetry Stage. Decatur, GA. August 2015.  Decatur Book Festival. Featured Poet. Local Poetry Stage. Decatur, GA. August 2014.  Marcescence Book Launch Celebration. Marietta, GA. July 2014.  The Horizon Leans Forward: A Reading for Maya Angelou. Featured Reader. Georgia Center for the Book. Decatur, GA. July 2014.  The Poetry Sessions. Organizer and Reader. Schoolhouse Brewing. Marietta, GA. July 2014.  Holler Poets Series. Featured Poet. Lexington, KY. June 2014.  Everything Turns Away Book Launch Celebration. Atlanta, GA. June 2014.  Walt Whitman’s 195th Birthday Celebration and Reading of “Song of Myself.” Featured Reader. Poetry Atlanta. Decatur, GA. May 2014.

MARTIN CV 8

 Loose Change Magazine’s Youth Poetry Open Mic. Featured Poet. This was a service-oriented reading in which I read my own work as well as supported and encouraged the readings of the students in attendance, and was available for discussion following the event. East Atlanta Branch of the Atlanta- Fulton Library. Atlanta, GA. April 2014.  Dahlonega Literary Festival. Featured Poet on a panel reading for The Southern Poetry Anthology. Dahlonega, GA. March 2014.  Guest Speaker and Reader, First Christian Church of Rome. “Poetry and the Psalms.” Rome, GA. February 2014.  Guest speaker and Reader (via telephone) with a poetry group in Effort, PA, led by Helen Vitoria, editor of Thrush Poetry Journal. October 2013.  WonderRoot Poetry Night. Featured Poet. WonderRoot. Atlanta, GA. October 2013.  FoxTale Books Emerging Author Series. Featured Author. FoxTale Book Shoppe. Woodstock, GA. September 2013.  Decatur Book Festival. Featured Poet. Local Poetry Stage. Decatur, GA. August 2013.  Flycatcher’s One Good Place Reading Series. Organizer and Reader. Abundant Grounds Café. Kennesaw, GA. July 2014.  An Evening with Southern Poets. Georgia Center for the Book. DeKalb County Public Library. Decatur, GA. April 2013.  Poetry at Callanwolde. Southern Poetry Anthology Reading. Featured Poet. Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Atlanta, GA. April 2013.  Georgia Poetry Society Quarterly Meeting. Featured Poet with Beth Gylys. Kennesaw State University. Kennesaw, GA. January 2013.  lostintheletters Reading Series. Featured Writer. Highland Inn Ballroom. Atlanta, GA. December 2012.  Smith-Gilbert Gardens “Flavors of Fall” Festival. Featured Poet. Kennesaw, GA. October 2012.  Poetry at Callanwolde. Featured Poet with Alice Friman. Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Atlanta, GA. September 2012.  Decatur Book Festival. College Poetry Showcase. Featured Poet with other MAPW students representing Kennesaw State University. Decatur, GA. September 2012.  Flycatcher’s One Good Place Reading Series. Organizer and Reader. Rev Coffee. Smyrna, GA. July 2012.  Kennesaw State University Literary Festival. Featured Reader. English Honors Society. Kennesaw, GA. April 2012.  A Conference of Birds Launch Reading. Kennesaw State University MAPW. Kennesaw, GA. April 2012.  Paper Anniversary: Loose Change’s One Year Celebration. Featured Reader. Loose Change Magazine. Decatur, GA. August 2011.  Rooftop Reading at the Arts Exchange. Featured Poet. Loose Change Magazine. Atlanta, GA. July 2011.  Loose Change Magazine Vol. 1, Issue 3 Release. Featured Reader. WonderRoot. Atlanta, GA. May 2011.

As Organizer/Host of SHORE: Acworth’s Creative Reading Series

 August 1, 2016. Featuring Kimberly Brock, Karen Paul Holmes, and Rupert Fike.  July 11, 2016. Featuring Beth Gylys, Mackleen Desravines, and Elizabeth Cranford Garcia.  June 6, 2016. Featuring Chelsea Rathburn, James Davis May, and Aaron Levy.  May 2, 2016. Featuring Sandra Meek, Amy Pence, and Lynn Pedersen.  April 4, 2016. Featuring Andrea Jurjević, Kendall Klym, and Jenny Sadre-Orafai.  March 7, 2016. Featuring Imani Marshall-Stephen, Collin Kelley, and Julie Bloemeke.  February 1, 2016. Featuring Anjali Enjeti, Donna Little, and Kristi Demeester.

MARTIN CV 9

PROFESSIONAL AND CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

 Alumnus, Expressing the Power of Place: The Wilderness Society’s Writing Retreat with Janisse Ray. The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. Highlands, NC. September 9 – October 2, 2011.  Alumnus, Bartram Writing Institute. Red Earth Farm. Reidsville, GA. March 5, 2011.  Alumnus and Scholar, Crossroads Writers Conference. Mercer University. Macon, GA. February 25 – 27, 2010.  Alumnus, Orion Magazine’s Wildbranch Writing Workshop. Sterling College. Craftsbury Common, VT. June 21 – 27, 2009.

ARTICLES ON AND REVIEWS OF MY WORK

 “Pieces of Poetry.” Everything Turns Away reviewed by Brenda Rose. Willacoochee Book Reviews (2015).  “To celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, follow these five powerful voices at four innovative new projects for building the beloved community across lines of race, class, gender, identity, and religion.” Neely Projects: Experiments in Art and Spirituality (2014).  “Pursuit of Passion.” Feature article on my work and my experience at Kennesaw State by Heather Cook. Kennesaw State University Graduate College Magazine (2012).  “A Conference of Birds.” A Conference of Birds reviewed by Don Hendershot. Smoky Mountain News (2012).

PRAISE

For This Gladdening Light (Mercer University Press, forthcoming)

“Martin writes honestly with a sincere insight into the ‘ordinary’ events of life—confessional and inspiring.” —Judge’s comments for Mercer University Press’s 2015 Will D. Campbell Award in Creative Nonfiction

“Christian, father, husband, environmentalist, southerner: those are all hard things to be in the 21st century. In these essays, we follow a young writer as he wrestles mightily with the implications and the complications of that identity. Our reward is Martin’s honesty, bravery, and winning prose.” —Erik Reece, author of Lost Mountain and An American Gospel

“In a world that chooses to define religious doctrine and faith-based practices in black and white terms, Christopher Martin sheds light on the gray area of spirituality. This gray area is a place of mindful questioning, honest struggle, and joyful observation that is no less earnest and devout than any other means of seeking the divine. Martin speaks with an unfettered heart about family, nature, life, and death in a beautiful collection of essays that are both relatable and poignant. He is bold in articulating what so many of us think, but maybe are too afraid to say. In This Gladdening Light, Martin explores what it is to be human alongside the great unknown that religion presents us. His words offer comfort to the restless, acceptance to the misunderstood, and a majestic view of the natural world—that ever expansive wilderness of small wonders that is God’s creation.”—Cristina M. Martin, Founding Editor of Loose Change Magazine

(Praise from Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and The Seed Underground, forthcoming. )

MARTIN CV 10

For Marcescence: Poems from Gahneesah (Finishing Line Press, 2014)

“These remarkable poems by two fine Southern writers bring the past into sharp focus. They show us vividly how the wounds of history can touch us, and if they cannot make us completely whole, they can make us more completely human. This is a thoughtful, moving, and compelling book.” —David Bottoms, former Poet Laureate of Georgia, author of We Almost Disappear and Armored Hearts: Selected and New Poems

“Martin and King have put together a collection haunted by history, in the midst of which, an unforgettable image: the vanishing heron as witness, standing stock still in the trash pile we’ve made of a sacred place. In these poems, Kennesaw Mountain and the battle that was fought here come alive again, for surely nature remembers—even a wren ‘trills the memory / of shell-shattered trees.’” —Alice Friman, author of Vinculum, a 2012 Pushcart Prize recipient, and winner of the 2012 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry

“In poems celebrating the way the natural world and we humans are composted and recycled to create the future of our enduring legacy and the posterity of our planet, Christopher Martin and David King have truly captured not only the concept of reconstitution in this collection, but, further, how important place is to who we are and who we might become—no matter where we may herald from or come to live.” —Thomas Rain Crowe, author of Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods, winner of the 2006 Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment

For Everything Turns Away (La Vita Poetica Press, 2014)

“These are beautifully wrought poems. I admire the way Martin creates out of our shared tradition a lyrically honest voice, one that enables him to illuminate the history and human conflict of a place by paying close attention to its physical glories and losses. In the voice of this poet, the narrow vision that has so often defined rural Southern culture opens up into what can only be called a poetic vision, and in doing so, the poems themselves become part of a sacred ritual of remembrance and restoration.” —Kathyrn Stripling Byer, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina, author of Descent and Wildwood Flower

“Christopher Martin’s Everything Turns Away is one of the most beautiful chapbooks I’ve read. Martin’s sense of place—and how place both consumes and alienates, entrances and repels—suffuses this collection, allowing entrance not merely into a mind attuned to landscape and identity, but one that reaches down into the chthonic, essentializing all that has come before him and his family, as well as all that will come after. Though all is ‘given to the understory,’ Martin investigates in these imagistic narratives how nature and identity are often at conflict, but when explored deeply and honestly, can create an abiding joy.” —William Wright, author of Tree Heresies and Night Field Anecdote, contributing editor for Shenandoah, and series editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology

AWARDS AND HONORS

 Winner of the 2015 Will D. Campbell Award in Creative Nonfiction for This Gladdening Light: An Ecology of Fatherhood and Faith, forthcoming with Mercer University Press in 2017.  2015 Pushcart Prize nomination by the editors of Bridge Eight for the poem “Catching Salamanders at Indian Grave Gap.”  Semifinalist in the 2014 Crab Orchard Review Series Open Competition for the full-length poetry collection Sex at Noses Creek (as yet unpublished and now titled All Formations, All Creatures).  Semifinalist in the 2014 Crab Orchard Review Series First Book Competition for the full-length poetry collection Second Coming on South Cobb Drive (as yet unpublished and now titled All Formations, All Creatures).

MARTIN CV 11

 Winner of the 2014 George Scarbrough Prize in Poetry for the poem “My Daughter Laughs in Her Sleep,” judged by Aaron Smith.  Finalist in the 2014 Bettie Sellers Poetry Contest for the poem “A Privy on the Appalachian Trail,” judged by Chelsea Rathburn.  Winner of the 2013 – 2014 Robert W. Hill Award in Graduate Writing, presented by the Kennesaw State University MA in Professional Writing Program  Inclusion in The Best of Loose Change (published March 2014 to commemorate Loose Change Magazine’s inaugural print issue, featuring the best work it has featured since its inception in 2010), for the essay “Phos Hilaron” and the poem “Two Possums.”  2013 Pushcart Prize nomination by the editors of Thrush Poetry Journal for the poem “At the Periodic Table Display, Tellus Science Museum, Cartersville, Georgia.”  2013 Kennesaw State University MA in Professional Writing Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year.  Semifinalist in the 2013 Crab Orchard Review Series Open Competition for the full-length poetry collection Starting from Kennesaw (as yet unpublished and now titled All Formations, All Creatures).  Semifinalist in Ruminate Magazine’s 2013 Janet McCabe Poetry Prize for the poem “Conversion at Owl Creek,” judged by Maurice Manning.  Semifinalist in Ruminate Magazine’s 2013 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize for the essay “Original Sound,” judged by Brian Doyle.  Semifinalist in Ruminate Magazine’s 2013 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize for the essay “A Ceiling of Skimmers,” judged by Brian Doyle.  Best New Poets 2013 nomination by the Kennesaw State MAPW Program.  Finalist in the 2012 Texas Review Press Breakthrough Prize: Georgia for the full-length poetry collection Starting from Kennesaw (as yet unpublished and now titled All Formations, All Creatures).  Featured Poet in the fall 2012 issue of Town Creek Poetry  2012 Pushcart Prize nomination by the editors of Thrush Press for the poem “Marcescence.”  Judge’s Selection in Still: The Journal’s 2012 Literary Contest in Poetry for “Parable of the Carolina Chickadee,” judged by Jesse Graves.  Honorable Mention in the 2012 Byron Herbert Reece Society Poetry Contest for “Sex at Noses Creek,” judged by Valerie Nieman.  2012 Best of the Net inclusion for two pieces I edited and published in Flycatcher.  Finalist in Still: The Journal’s 2011 Literary Contest in Creative Nonfiction for the essay “Formed by Water,” judged by Karen Salyer McElmurray.  Honorable Mention in Ruminate Magazine’s 2011 Janet McCabe Poetry Prize for “Antidote to Narcissus,” judged by Naomi Shihab Nye.  2010 Crossroads Scholar at the Crossroads Writers’ Conference for the essay “Phos Hilaron.”

WORKS-IN-PROGRESS

 All Formations, All Creatures. This is a completed full-length poetry manuscript that has placed highly in national competitions. It is currently under consideration at multiple presses.

 Cyrene. This a completed poetry chapbook manuscript that is under consideration at multiple presses.

 A Less Peculiar Ground. This is a poetry chapbook manuscript inspired by the music of R.E.M. and Nirvana. It is about halfway complete.

 Rabbit Tobacco. This is my second full-length poetry manuscript, currently in the very early stages of development.

MARTIN CV 12

 Memoir. This as-yet untitled manuscript, now in the early stages of development, interweaves present-day narratives with reflections and recollections of the past (including two months on the Appalachian Trail, for example), all connected in a certain sense by the poetry of Walt Whitman.

 Kairos and Crisis. When I have enough entries for my blog at New Southerner, I plan to form them into an essay collection.

 The Protestant. This is a novel manuscript in the very early stages of development.

 Children’s Books. I have a number of children’s book manuscripts—including one chapter book and several picture books—in various stages of development.

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

 Writing Creative Nonfiction and Poetry  Contemporary Nonfiction and Poetry of the American South  The Intersections of Literature, Art, and Social Justice  Nature, Environmental, and Ecological Writing  The Civil Rights Movement  American Transcendentalism  The Civil War in the American Imagination  Editing and Revision  Online and Small Press Publishing  Contemporary Writers of Particular Interest: Natasha Trethewey, Wendell Berry, David Bottoms, Mary Oliver, Janisse Ray  Historical Writers of Particular Interest: Emily Dickinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gerard Manley Hopkins, Langston Hughes, Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor, Byron Herbert Reece, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman

PROFESSIONAL LISTINGS

 Poets & Writers www.pw.org/content/christopher_martin

 The Southern Nature Project www.southernnature.org

MARTIN CV 13

REFERENCES

Ms. Darnell Arnoult, MFA Writer-in-Residence and Assistant Professor of English, Lincoln Memorial University Director, Appalachian Young Writers Workshop Director, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival [email protected] 615-715-3956 (cell)

Dr. David King Associate Professor of English and Film Studies, Graduate Faculty in American Studies, Kennesaw State University [email protected] 770-499-3220 (office)

Ms. Cynthia Davidson Instructor of English, Georgia Highlands College [email protected] 678-872-8027 (office)

Dr. William Wright Writer-in-Residence, University of Tennessee Series Editor, The Southern Poetry Anthology Contributing Editor, Shenandoah [email protected] / [email protected] 706-421-3032 (cell)

Mr. Clemens Bak President and Founder, Acworth Cultural Arts Center [email protected] 770-231-7751 (office)

Ms. Ellen Kennerly Executive Director, Acworth Cultural Arts Center [email protected] / [email protected] 770-231-7751 (office)

I am happy to provide letters of recommendation on request.

MARTIN CV 14