Sharon Olds Overview

Sharon Olds grew up in a Calvinist home in Berkeley, CA. She received a BA from Stanford University in 1964 and an English PhD from Columbia University in 1972. Olds is known for candidly exploring the ordinary and unpleasant--from toilets to... [more]

Sharon Olds grew up in a Calvinist home in Berkeley, CA. She received a BA from Stanford University in 1964 and an English PhD from Columbia University in 1972. Olds is known for candidly exploring the ordinary and unpleasant--from toilets to take-out. Olds did not publish her first poetry collection, Satan Says, until 1980, when she was 37 years old. Satan Says, which explores the roles women play, was awarded San Francisco Poetry Center Award. Her next collection, The Dead & the Living (1983), received a National Book Critics Circle Award. Her subsequent collections include The Father (1992), The Wellspring (1995), The Gold Cell (1997), Blood, Tin, Straw (1999), The Unswept Room (2002), and Strike Sparks: Selected Poems (2004). Olds acted as New York State Poet from 1998-2000 and she teaches in NYU's graduate program. [show less]