Kim Addonizio

Kim Addonizio was born in Washington, D.C., on July 31, 1954. She received her BA and MA from San Francisco State University.

Addonizio’s books of poetry include Lucifer at the Starlite (W. W. Norton, 2009); What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems (W. W. Norton, 2004); Tell Me (BOA Editions, 2000), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Jimmy & Rita (BOA Editions, 1997); The Philosopher’s Club (BOA Editions, 1994); and Three West Coast Women, with Laurie Duesing and Dorianne Laux (Five Fingers Press, 1987).

Addonizio is also the author of In the Box Called Pleasure (Fiction Collective 2, 1999), a collection of stories, and, with Laux, the co-author of The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (W. W. Norton, 1997). She coedited Dorothy Parker’s Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos (Grand Central Publishing, 2002) with Cheryl Dumesnil. Addonizio was a founding editor of the journal Five Fingers Review.

Among Addonizio’s awards and honors are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, a Pushcart Prize, and a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal.

Kim Addonizio teaches in the MFA program at Goddard College and lives in San Francisco.