Cameron Awkward-Rich
Cameron Awkward-Rich is a poet and academic. He is the author of the full-length poetry collection Sympathetic Little Monster, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and Dispatch, which won the 2018 Lexi Rudnitsky Editor's Choice Award.[1][2] In addition, he has published the chapbook Transit.
Awkward-Rich earned a PhD from Stanford University's program in Modern Thought and Literature before spending time at Duke University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Transgender Studies & Humanities Project with the Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies.[3] As of February 2026, he teaches women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.[4]
Awkward-Rich was a keynote speaker for the 2020 Thinking Trans/Trans Thinking Conference, organized by the Trans Philosophy Project.[5] He was also a Featured Poet during the 2020 Split This Rock Poetry Festival, a gathering in Washington, DC, organized biennially around social justice themes.[6]
He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Publications
[edit]Books
[edit]An Optimism. New York: Persea Books, 2025.
The Terrible We: Thinking With Trans Maladjustment. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2022.
Dispatch: poems. New York: Persea Books, 2019.
Sympathetic Little Monster. Los Angeles: Richocet Editions, 2016.
Subject to Change: Trans Poetry & Conversation (with Joshua Jennifer Espinoza, Christopher Soto, Beyza Ozer, Kay Ulanday Barrett). Little Rock: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017.
Chapbooks
[edit]Transit. Gardena: Button Poetry, 2017.
Craft Essays
[edit]"Craft Capsule: Revising the Archive."[7]
Interviews
[edit]Gow, Robin. "Trying to Feel A Part of Some Kind of 'We': A Conversation With Cameron Awkward-Rich."[8]
Marshell, Kyla. "The Pen Ten with Cameron Awkward-Rich."[9]
Scholarly Articles
[edit]"The Fiction of Ethnography in Charlotte Perkin Gilman's Herland." Science Fiction Studies, v43 n2 (2016): 331–350.
References
[edit]- ↑ "Cameron Awkward-Rich wins 2018 Lexi Rudnitsky Editor's Chocie Award! | Modern Thought & Literature". mtl.stanford.edu. 16 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ Poets, Academy of American. "About Cameron Awkward-Rich | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
- ↑ "Cameron Awkward-Rich : Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies : UMass Amherst". www.umass.edu. Retrieved 2026-02-03.
- ↑ "Cameron Awkward-Rich". Poetry Foundation. 2021-07-14. Archived from the original on 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
- ↑ "Episode 3 – Feeling that Motley We: An Interview with Cameron Awkward-Rich". podcasts.la.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-22.
- ↑ "2020 Festival | Biennial Festivals | Programs | Split This Rock". www.splitthisrock.org. Archived from the original on 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ "Craft Capsule: Revising the Archive". Poets & Writers. 2019-12-09. Archived from the original on 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ Gow, Robin (2020-02-10). "Trying to feel a part of some kind of 'we': A Conversation with Cameron Awkward-Rich". The Adroit Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ Marshell, Kyla (2017-02-21). "The PEN Ten with Cameron Awkward-Rich". PEN America. Archived from the original on 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-08-23.