Michele Madigan Somerville is the author of three books of verse, Black Irish (2009) and WISEGAL (2001, Ten Pell; reprinted 2018, Blue Streak). Her third book of verse, Glamourous Life will be published in January of 2020. Smerville’s poems have appeared in several literary journals and her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin. She served as co-editor of The Brooklyn Review during the late 1980s, and from 1987 to 1991 she worked as an editorial assistant at The Paris Review. Michele's work has won several awards: an honorable mention for her latest collection from Bauhan Books' May Sarton contest, honorable mention (poet Charles Simic judged) for her poem "Lonicera Fragrantissima" in Dublin Ireland's Davoren Hanna contest sponsored by Eason Books (2003). Her poem "Portrait of a Woman Beside Her Marker" won 1st place in NY's W.B. Yeats Society's annual poetry contest (Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins judged) and while studying under Allen Ginsberg, Michele won a MacArthur scholarship for poetry and three other department awards.
Michele began her classroom teaching career in 1981 as a sixth grade teacher. She was 21 years old had 43 students and taught Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Reading and Religion with neither prep periods nor teacher's aides. After a a two-year break to work full-time and study ancient Greek and poetry at Columbia University., she returned to elementary school teaching (1st grade) for one year, and then secondary school for two years. She was appointed as a Graduate Fellow at Brooklyn College in 1986 and went on to teach college (expository writing, research, poetry and fiction) in the State and City of New York for more than ten years. Somerville left teaching in 1994 to give birth to 3 children in 4 years, at which time she began to work as a tutor.
Michele Somerville holds a Master of Theology Studies from Harvard University, a Master of Fine Arts in Writing/ Poetry from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and a Bachelor’s Degree from Purchase (College).
Michele has worked for the New York Botanical Gardens, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Police Department. She has worked as waiter in, a hotel clerk, an art teacher and a teacher at Berlitz. When not writing books and travelling to visit her college kids, Michele works extensively in programs for the indigent, persons with HIV/AIDS, and worked as a volunteer tutor to/of Superheroes at 826NYC in Park Slope in Brooklyn from 2010 to 2016.
Contact Michele Somerville:
bklanguagearts@gmail.com