Special Recognition: Rick Barot

The Humanities Division is very proud to honor Rick Barot for what can only be described as a magical year. Rick, who teaches courses in poetry and directs the Rainier Writing Workshop, has long been recognized across campus as a brilliant teacher, scholar, and colleague. And now it seems the rest of the world knows our secret.

Rick was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and his amazing collection of poetry, Chord, has been honored with the Pen/Open Book Award, Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Prize, and the 2016 Rilke Prize from the University of North Texas. Chord was also a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize.

professor Rick Barot
Chord by Barot book cover
quote from publishers weekly about Rick Barot's Chord - At his best, Barot seamlessly weaves history, image, and etymology in ways that offer the reader new eyes to see language and the world it describes...Barot's poems transfix and transform through his remarkable ability to pack and unpack narratives within the space of an image.