Poetry
Absent
I have been missing from this year’s spring.
Witness to the winter aconite and snowdrops, the first daffodils,
but not the tulips or hyacinths.
I did not see the goldeneyes again
before they left for the north.
In Irpin, a woman waters lilies and peonies in front of her home
dismantled by bombs.
The canes of her roses are still living though they may not bloom this year.
Yesterday I made it as far as the first patch of trout lilies
beside the muddy river:
the last blooms had waited for me.
Books
UNFASTEN THE SILK OF YOUR SILENCE translations of poems by Souad Labbize, available from Éditions des Lisières
LIKE THIS, poems, available from Unsolicited Press
MY SOUL HAD NO CORNERS, translation of poetry by Souad Labbize
DEAR GIRLS available from Dancing Girl Press or author
In the Press
I’d had Susanna Lang’s Travel Notes from the River Styx in my to-be-read pile for some time, and when I finally picked it up recently, reading it in one sitting, my first thought was that I wished I’d read it sooner. It’s just fantastic. You should all read it.. Read More
Lynn Domina,
A REVIEW A WEEK
Travel Notes from the River Styx contains some great poems that get to the emotional core of love, life and death. The poems are haunted and haunting, forcing me to read them more than once. I found the poems enjoyable and they will stay with me for a long time... I'd highly recommend this collection. Read More
Pamela Scott,
THE BOOK LOVERS BOUDOIR
Lang sets a mood of dreamy, elegiac mystery in the opening poem, “Road Trip,” with “Carla Bruni… singing Je rêve comme je respire” on the car’s speakers as the driver follows familiar roads to arrive at a motel room peopled by her dearest ghosts... Read More
Kathleen Kirk,
ESCAPE INTO LIFE
Bio
Susanna Lang divides her time between Chicago, Illinois, and Uzès, France. She is the author of three full-length books of poetry and has translated the poetry of Yves Bonnefoy, Souad Labbize and Hélène Dorion. Her most recent collection, Like This, was published by Unsolicited Books in 2022. Earlier collections include Travel Notes from the River Styx (Terrapin Books, 2017), Tracing the Lines (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2013) and Even Now (The Backwaters Press, 2008). Words in Stone, her translation of poems by Yves Bonnefoy, was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 1976, and My Soul Has No Corners, her translation of poetry by Souad Labbize, is available now from Diálogos Books.
Journals and online publications in which poems, translations and reviews have appeared include American Life in Poetry, The Slowdown, Verse Daily, The Common, december magazine, Asymptote, Cider Press Review, North American Review, Stonecoast Review, Prairie Schooner, Southern Humanities Review and Rhino Poetry. ​She has won numerous awards, including the 2021 Crosswinds Poetry Award, the Prime Number Poetry Prize in 2015, the Inkwell Poetry Competition in 2009, and a 1999 Illinois Arts Council Award, along with multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize. She was a 2010 and 2015 Hambidge Fellow and received a 2011 Emerging Writer Fellowship from The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD.
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A longtime educator in the Chicago area, she has taught literacy, literature and creative writing in grades 5-12, as well as graduate level education courses at National Louis and Northeastern Illinois Universities. She has led adult poetry workshops in public libraries and for organizations such as the Chicago Public Library, Northwest Cultural Council, Rhino Poetry Forum, Center for College Access and Success (Northeastern Illinois University), Boundless Readers and The Writer’s Center (Bethesda, MD). She has also written curriculum or consulted for the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Poetry Foundation, and ThinkCERCA.
Reviews
of Poetry
Upon entering the site, click on the above image. The review starts on page 12.
News & Events
I have two books forthcoming: My Forests, translations of poetry by Hélène Dorion (Book*Hug, late 2026); and This Spangled Dark, a collection of my own poems (Cornerstone Press, March 2027). Watch this space for updates!
09
Fri
March
I will be reading translations of poems by Souad Labbize, Hélène Dorion, & Christine Guinard at Read the World: A Celebration of Poetry in Translation. 7 pm at 111 S. Livingston Ave., #100, Madison Wisconsin.
09
Thurs
Jan
Just published: Trilingual edition of poetry by Souad Labbize (French, Arabic, English) with my translations. Available from Éditions des Lisières.
29
Mon
July
I am so honored to be awarded the Marvin Bell Memorial Poetry Price from December Magazine! If you couldn't join us for the launch reading, you can watch on YouTube, and you can get your copy of the issue at decembermag.org.
19
Sun
March
Available from Diálogos Books: my translations of My Soul Has No Corners, poetry by the Algerian-French poet, Souad Labbize.
19
Thurs
Jan
Asymptote has published six poems by Hélène Dorion in my translation.
03
Wed
Aug
Jill! is celebrating Women in Translation Month with a playlist I curated of Third Coast Translators Collective (TCTC) translators reading selections from women writers around the world, including my translation of poems from Mes forêts by Hélène Dorion.
24
Wed
Feb
Thanks to Crosswinds Poetry Journal and Margaret Gibson for awarding first prize to my poem, Inspection, which will be published in spring 2021.