Ed Madden

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Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina 2015–2023
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Ed Madden was raised in Newport, Arkansas. He received a BA in English and French from Harding University, a BS in Biblical studies from the Institute for Christian Studies, an MA in English from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in literature from the University of Texas at Austin.

Madden’s most recent collections include Ark (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016); Nest (Salmon Poetry, 2014); and Prodigal: Variations (Lethe Press, 2011).

Madden is a professor of English and director of the women’s and gender studies program at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches Irish literature and creative writing. In 2019, he was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. The recipient of a South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts, Madden served as the poet laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, from 2015 to 2023.