Philip Metres, Ph.D
Professor
Background
Expertise: American poetry, creative writing, translation, literature of war and peace, peacebuilding
Philip Metres is the author and translator of a number of books and chapbooks, including Shrapnel Maps (Copper Canyon 2020), The Sound of Listening (2018), Pictures at an Exhibition (University of Akron 2016), winner of the Akron Poetry Prize; Sand Opera (Alice James 2015), which received the honorable mention for the Arab American Book Award) I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky (Cleveland State Poetry Center, 2015), shortlisted for the PEN Translation Award and the Read Russia Prize; Compleat Catalogue of Comedic Novelties: Poetic Texts of Lev Rubinstein (Ugly Duckling Presse 2014), which was longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award; A Concordance of Leaves (Diode 2013) and abu ghraib arias (Flying Guillotine 2011), each of which won the Arab American Book Award To See the Earth (Cleveland State 2008); and Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront since 1941(University of Iowa 2007). His work has appeared in Best American Poetry, numerous journals and anthologies, and has garnered two NEA fellowships, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lannan Fellowship, the George S. Hunt, S.J. Prize, the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, six Ohio Arts Council Grants, the Beatrice Hawley Award, two Arab American Book Awards, the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Anne Halley Prize, the PEN/Heim Translation grant, a Russian Institute for Literary Translation grant, and the Creative Workforce Fellowship. He is professor of English and the director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights Program at John Carroll University in Cleveland.
Areas of Expertise
- Creative Writing
- Modern and Contemporary Poetry
- Literature and Social Justice
- Israeli and Palestinian Literatures
- Peacebuilding
- Irish Literature
- Russian Literature
- Translation
Research Interests
CURRENT RESEARCH/WRITING PROJECTS
& What Would You Say With My Body. New poems.
The Olive Tree Necklace: A Theatrical Adaptation of Shrapnel Maps. Collaboration with Eric Schmiedl. In development
Peace is Another Country: Stories of Northern Ireland. Research and writing.
The More You Love the Motherland. Memoir. Life in Russia and in Russian Poetry. Revising.
From Pushkin to Pussy Riot: Conversations with Russian Poets after the Fall. Archive of Interviews.
Education & Awards
Education
- Ph.D., , Indiana University
- M.F.A., , Indiana University
Courses Taught
- EN 1250 First Year Writing
- HP1010 The Life of the Mind: Honors First Year Writing
- EN 277 Major American Writers (Survey of American Literature)
- EN 2080 Israeli and Palestinian Literatures (EGC new core, PJHR)
- EN 2280 Irish Literature and Film (EGC, PJHR)
- EN 1310 Introduction to Creative Writing Workshop Poetry (CAPA)
- EN 1330 Introduction to Creative Writing (Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction) (CAPA)
- EN 4010 Advanced Creative Writing (Poetry)
- EN 4030 Capstone Creative Writing
- EN 480 Studies in Postcolonial Literature
- EN 482 Contemporary American Poetry: Mainstream and Experimental
- EN 482 Confessional Poetry (Lowell, Plath, Ginsberg)
Publications
Books
- Dispatches from the Land of Erasure: Essays. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2025.
- The Sound of Listening. Essays. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2018.
- Pictures at an Exhibition: A Petersburg Album. Poems. Akron, OH: University of Akron Press. 2016.
- To See the Earth. Poems. Cleveland: Cleveland State University Press, 2008.
Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront. Iowa City: U of Iowa Press, 2007. - A Kindred Orphanhood: Selected Poems of Sergey Gandlevsky. Translation by Philip Metres. Boston, MA: Zephyr Press, 2003.
Articles
- Fugitive/Refuge. Poems. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon, 2024.
- Ochre & Rust: New Selected Poems of Sergey Gandlevsky. Translation. Grinnell, Iowa: Green Linden, 2023.
- Shrapnel Maps. Poems. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon, 2020.
- Sand Opera. Poems. Farmington, ME: Alice James, 2015.
- I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky. Translation. Cleveland State Poetry Center, 2015.
- Compleat Catalogue of Comedic Novelties: Poetic Texts of Lev Rubinstein. Translation. Brooklyn, NY: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2014.
- Catalogue of Comedic Novelties: Selected Poems of Lev Rubinstein. Translation. New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2004.
