Biographical/historical information

Kelly Cherry was born on 21 December 1940, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her family then moved to Ithaca, New York when she was five, and then, four years later, to Chesterfield County, Virginia. She attended University of Mary Washington (BA 1961) and did graduate work in philosophy at the University of Virginia as a Du Pont Fellow. She eventually earned a Masters of Fine Arts form the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.

After working in the publishing business for several years, Cherry taught at Southwest Minnesota State College. Over the next two decades, Cherry was teacher and writer-in-residence at several institutions; most notably the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she taught from 1977-until her retirement in 1999. She is currently (2016) the Eudora Welty Professor Emerita of English and Evjue-Bascom Professor Emerita in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In retirement, she continues to hold academic positions at several universities.

Over Cherry's career she has published over 25 works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, ten chapbooks and two translations of Greek classical plays. She also has published numerous reviews for a plethora of publications, including the New York Times, the London Independent, the Chicago Book Review, and the Los Angeles Times.

Over her career Cherry received many awards and fellowships for her work, most notably a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2016 and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 2009. She served as Poet Laureate of Virginia, 2010-2012.

Sources:

"Kelly Cherry" [Biographical Sketch] Wikipedia. Accessed 18 November 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Cherry.

"Kelly Cherry" [Biographical Sketch] Poetry Foundation. Accessed 18 November 2016. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/kelly-cherry.

Author: Jonathan Dembo, with the assistance of John Leche, 11/18/2016, rev. 2/16/2017, 3/16/2017.

Scope and arrangement

Stuart Wright Collection: Kelly Cherry Papers (#1169-076) are arranged in original order in 2 series.

Series 1: Cary Addition #1 to the Stuart Wright Collection consist of papers (1980-1999 [Bulk: 1995-1999) documenting the life and literary career of Kelly Cherry (b. 1940), the prolific American novelist, poet, essayist, and educator at University of Wisconsin-Madison; consisting of typescripts of her publication Paula: An Odyssey: A Novel, Parts 1 – 4), and a broadside of her poem Loneliness: Words for a Secular Canticle. Cherry served as Poet Laureate of Virginia 2010-2012. Source: Cary Addition Boxes #099.000 & 145.000. Series 1 is held in Box 1.a-1.e

Series 2: Ludlow Addition #2 to the Stuart Wright Collection consists of papers (1972-1989) documenting the life and literary career of Kelly Cherry (b. 1940), the prolific American novelist, poet, essayist, and educator at University of Wisconsin-Madison; consisting of typescripts of loose manuscripts transferred Kelly Cherry's works in the Stuart Wright Book Collection Augusta Played: A Novel,Conversion,Sick and Full of Burning: A Novel. Cherry served as Poet Laureate of Virginia 2010-2012. Source: Cary Addition Boxes #162.012, 165.015, 165.013. Series 2 is held in Box 1.f-1.h.

Administrative information

Custodial History

27 October 2011, (Cary Addition #1), 0.24 cubic feet; 0.95 archival box; 6 items; 675 p. Papers (1980-1999 [Bulk: 1995-1999) documenting the life and literary career of Kelly Cherry (b. 1940), the prolific American novelist, poet, essayist, and educator at University of Wisconsin-Madison; consisting of typescripts of her publication Paula: An Odyssey: A Novel, Parts 1 – 4), and a broadside of her poem Loneliness: Words for a Secular Canticle. Cherry served as Poet Laureate of Virginia 2010-2012. Source: Cary Addition Boxes #099.000 & 145.000. Vendor: Stuart Wright

20 July 2012, (Ludlow Addition #2), 0.01 cubic feet; 0.05 archival box; 8 items; 10 p. Papers (1972-1989) documenting the life and literary career of Kelly Cherry (b. 1940), the prolific American novelist, poet, essayist, and educator at University of Wisconsin-Madison; consisting of typescripts of loose manuscripts transferred Kelly Cherry's works in the Stuart Wright Book Collection Augusta Played: A Novel,Conversion,Sick and Full of Burning: A Novel. Cherry served as Poet Laureate of Virginia 2010-2012. Source: Cary Addition Boxes #162.012, 165.015, 165.013. Vendor: Stuart Wright

Source of acquisition

Purchased from Stuart Wright, 10/27/2011, 7/20/2012

Processing information

Processing, Preliminary inventory & Container List, by Jonathan Dembo, with the assistance of Nathaniel King, 2/15/2016, 2/18/2016; Final inventory by Jonathan Dembo, 8/29/2016; Finding aid by Jonathan Dembo, 9/27/2016, 11/18/2016; Biographical Sketch, by Jonathan Dembo with the assistance of Dale Wetterhahn & John Leche, 11/18/2016, rev. 2/16/2017; Encoding revised by Jonathan Dembo, 2/16/2017, 3/16/2017.

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Language of material

English

Key terms

Personal Names

Topical

Container list