Janine Joseph

Address: Morrill 107
Phone: 405-744-6221
E-mail: janine.joseph@okstate.edu
Website: www.janinejoseph.com

Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Houston
MFA, New York University
BA, University of California, Riverside
AA, Riverside City College 

Areas of Interest & Expertise

• Poetry and Poetics
• Libretti
• Undocumented Immigration and Immigration Literatures
• Creative Nonfiction

Recent Upper Division & Graduate Courses Taught

Undergraduate

• Advanced Poetry Writing: Wellspring Texts
• Poetry Writing: Me, My Selves, and My Disguise
• Poetry Writing: Poetic Forms

Graduate

• Studies in Poetry Writing (variable topics: Substructure & Sottonarrativa; First Books; Project Books; What Happened, What Didn't Happen, Who Does It Matter To?)
• Craft & Forms of Poetry: Traditional and Invented Forms

Selected Publications

Books:

Decade of the Brain. Forthcoming in January 2023 from Alice James Books.

Driving Without a License. Winner of the 2014 Kundiman Poetry Prize. Alice James Books, 2016. 

Co-edited Anthology:

Undocupoetics: An Introduction. Under contract with HarperCollins/Harper Perennial.

Selected Poetry:

• "My Chiropractor Gives Me a Name." The Rumpus, National Poetry Month feature, April 2021.

• "House Hunters." The Nation, Sept. 7/14 2020 issue.

• "Love In the Time of Vertigo." MumberMag, issue 2.

• "Near the End of Our Time." Copper Nickel, issue 31.

• "Stillwater." Orion Magazine, issue 39.2. 

• "American Sentences" and "Coup-Contrecoup." Pleiades: Literature in Context, issue 40.2.

• "In the Ecotone." The Georgia Review, issue 74.1.

• "The Persistence of Symptoms." Quarterly West, issue 96. Reprinted by the Academy of American Poets March 2019.

• "New Patient Intake Form" and "You lose your keys, too, and." World Literature Today, March-April 2018.  

• "Ivan, Always Hiding" Southern Humanities Review, April 2016. 

• "Four Darks in Red," "Reading the Bleed," "Cerebral Edema," and "Human Archipelago." Waxwing, issue VIII. 

• "Circuitry." The Academy of American Poets: Poem-a-Day. February 4, 2016. 

• "You Lie" and "The Part of the Water." The Adroit Journal, issue 13. 

• "Landscape with American Dream." The California Journal of Poetics, issue 1. 

• "Homecoming." Drunken Boat, issue 20. 

• "Tago Ng Tago (TNT)," "Arrival," "Move-In," "Snakes In the Grass," and "Bonfire." Connotation Press: An Online Artifact (featured on “A Poetry Congeries”). July 2014. 

• "‘More milk, more milk makes it better’" and "Where There’s Smoke." Eleven Eleven, issue 17. 

• "Chain Migration." Hyphen Magazine, August 2014. 

• "Between Chou and the Butterfly" and "About the Visas." The Journal, issue 38:2. 

• "Electromyography." The Collagist, issue 55.

• "Shift." Painted Bride Quarterly, issue 88. 2013. Reprinted by Poetry Daily, May 2016.

• "Swarm" and "Leaving the Non-Profit Immigration Lawyer's Office." Kenyon Review Online. Summer 2013. 

• "Exchanging Vows." Asian American Literary Review, issue 3:2. 
  

• "Comeuppance" and "Narrative." Lantern Review, issue 4. 

• "Wreck." Hayden’s Ferry Review, issue 48.                                      

• "What after." Third Coast, issue 27.

Poems in Textbooks and Anthologies:

• "Assimilation." Border Lines: Poems of Migration. Michael Waters and Mihaela Moscaliuc, eds. Everyman's Library: NY, 2020. Pocket Poets Series.

• "Extended Stay America." Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience. Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond, eds. Triangle Square: NY, 2019.

• "Move-In." Poetry: A Writers' Guide and Anthology. Bloomsbury Academic: NY, 2018. 

• "Between Chou and the Butterfly." Best American Experimental Writing 2015. Douglas Kearney, ed. Seth Abramson and Jesse Damiani, series eds. Wesleyan University Press: CT, 2015. 

• “Wreck.” Best New Poets 2011.  D.A. Powell, ed. Jazzy Danziger and Jeb Livingood, series eds. University of Virginia Press: VA, 2011. 6. 

• "Junkyarding through the great Moreno Valley." Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes. Ryan G. Van Cleave and Chad Prevost, eds. C & R Press: Chattanooga, TN, 2009. 109-10.  

• "Second Lesson (Circle Inn)," "Junkyarding through the great Moreno Valley," and "TheUndocumented Immigrant Poem # 79." Bear Flag Republic: Prose Poems and Poetics from California. Christopher Buckley and Gary Young, eds. Greenhouse Review Press/Alcatraz Editions: Santa Cruz, CA, 2008. 218-19. 

• “Anilao, 1989." Homage to Vallejo.  Christopher Buckley, ed.  Greenhouse Review Press: Santa  Cruz, CA, 2006. 36-7. 

Libretti and Lyrics:

• Extraordinary Motion: Concerto for Electric Harp. Original concerto commissioned by Symphony New Hampshire. Music composed by D. J. Sparr. Forthcoming in Aprill 2022.

• The Art of Our Healers. Original choral work jointly commissioned by Washington Master Chorale and Houston Grand Opera. Music composed by D. J. Sparr. 2021.

• "More milk, more milk makes it better." Poem adapted for "American DREAMers: Stories of Immigration." Music composed by Melissa Dunphy. 2018.

• "Between Chou and the Butterfly." Poem adapted for "DREAM Songs." Music composed by Reinaldo Moya. 2018.

• What Wings They Were: The Case of Emeline. Original libretto commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera/HGOco. Music composed by John L. Cornelius II. 2016.

• "On This Muddy Water": Voices from the Houston Ship Channel. Original song cycle commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera/HGOco. Music composed by D. J. Sparr. 2014.

• From My Mother's Mother. Original libretto commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera/HGOco for the "Song of Houston: East + West" series. Music composed by Jeeyoung Kim. 2012.

Essays:

• "Recovery." The Poem's Country: Place and Poetic Practice. Shara Lessley and Bruce Snider, eds. Pleiades Press, MO: 2018.

• "Language of the Border." VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. VIDA Exclusive. May 2015. 

• "Forum: ‘MFA vs POC.’" The Asian American Literary Review. Fall/Winter 2015 issue. 

• "Undocumented, and Riding Shotgun." The Smithsonian’s What It Means to Be American project. January 2015. 

• "The Exemplary Poem and the Exemplary Life." First Light. The Press at California State University Fresno & Greenhouse Review Press: 2013.

Reviews:

• Review of Jose Antonio Vargas' Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. "What Happens After You Become the 'Most Famous Undocumented Immigrant in America." The Atlantic. October 2018.

• Review of Jerome Ruillier's The Strange. "The Strange: The Graphic Novel that Captures the Anxieties of Being Undocumented." The Atlantic. August 2018.

• Contributor. "Publishing During a Pandemic: The Effects of COVID-19 on the Business of Books." Poets & Writers. July/August 2020. 

• Co-Editor. "When Did You Recognize Me as Your Own?: A Folio of Undocupoets Fellows." Hyphen Magazine. 16 April 2020.

• Guest Editor. "Documentation." For Kundiman's Poetry & Democracy feature, as part of the Poetry Coalition. March 2019. 

• "Beyond the Finish Line." Poets & Writers. July/August 2017.

Selected Articles and Editorial Work:

• Invited Contributor. "What We Found in Writing: Authors on Creativity in Quarantine." Poets & Writers. July/August 2020. 

• Co-Editor. "When Did You Recognize Me as Your Own?: A Folio of Undocupoets Fellows." Hyphen Magazine. 16 April 2020.

• Guest Editor. "Documentation." For Kundiman's Poetry & Democracy feature, as part of the Poetry Coalition. March 2019. 

• "Beyond the Finish Line." Poets & Writers. July/August 2017.

Selected Invited Talks, Featured Readings, and Conference Presentations

• National Poetry Month Reading. Unbound Book Festival, Columbia, MO. April 2021. 

• Axton Reading Series. University of Louisville, KY: February 2021.

• Mark Allen Everett Poetry Series (virtual). The University of Oklahoma, OK. April 2020.

• “Poetry Off the Shelf: Sarah Gambito and Janine Joseph.” Poetry Foundation, Chicago, IL. November 2019.

• The Annual Sadock Women in the Arts Lecture Series. Union College, Schenectady, NY. May 2019.

• “Challenging Tokenization: Writers of Colors Respond.” Panelist with Leslie Sainz, Christopher Santiago, Analicia Sotelo, and Tiphanie Yanique. AWP Conference. Portland, OR. March 2019.

• “From Words to Music: Writers on Collaborating with Composers.” Panelist with Rebecca Morgan Frank, Jessica Murphy Moo, and Lloyd Schwartz, AWP Conference. Portland, OR. March 2019.

• “The Poetics of Fury: Creative Reading.” Panelist with Taneum Bambrick, Jennifer Maritza-McCauley, Jenny Molberg, and Kathryn Nuernberger. C. D. Wright Women Writers Conference, University of Central Arkansas, AK: November 2018.

• “Readings and Talks Series and Symposia at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice: Marcelo Hernández Castillo and Janine Joseph.” Georgetown University, Washington D.C.: October 2018.

• “Women Writers.” Panelist with Carmen Maria Machado, Rebecca Peters, and Ashley Lumpkin. Greensboro Bound Literary Festival. Greensboro, NC: May 2018.

• “Small Experiments with Radical Intent.” Panelist with Alicia Craven, Desireé Dallagiacomo, Kima Jones, and Ramiza Koya. AWP Conference, Tampa, FL: March 2018.

• “Convocation Series: Adventures in Interdisciplinary Studies.” Panelist with Purnaprajna Bangere and Jeffrey Lang. Franklin College, Franklin, IN: November 2017.

• Convocation Speaker. “Undocumented, and Riding Shotgun.” Pellissippi State Community College, Knoxville, TN. 5 September 2017.

• “Summer Literary Salon #3: Elizabeth Hazen and Janine Joseph.” Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College, Chestertown, MD: July 2017.

• “No Human Being is Illegal: Undocupoets Reading.” MOTUS Theater, Boulder, CO: April 2017.

• Inprint Poets & Writers Ball. The Houstonian, Houston, TX: February 2017.

• “Girlhood, Womanhood, Coming of Age.” Reader and Panelist with Aliki Barnstone, Laura Donnelly, Cornelius Eady, and Janet McNally. AWP Conference, Washington, DC: February 2017.

• “Asian American Literature Today: Janine Joseph and Aimee Nezhukumatathil.” Library of Congress, Washington, DC: October 2016.

• “Inspired by Wonder: A WITS Reading.” Panelist with Lacy M. Johnson, Marc McKee, and Renee Flagler. AWP, Los Angeles: April 2016.

• “The Poem and Social Space.” Panelist with Ken Chen, Randall Horton, and Lupe Mendez. Facing Race: A National Conference, Dallas: November 2014.

• “Migration Histories - Total Recall or Selective Amnesia? The Uses and Abuses of History in the Immigration Discussion.” Panelist with Israel Pastrana and Chris Newman. Weber State University Diversity Conference, Ogden: October 2013.

Selected Honors & Professional Service

• Co-Organizer. Undocupoets. Current.
• Advisory Board, Center for Poets and Writers at OSU-Tulsa. Current.
• Finalist, 2021 Lyric Poetry Award, The Poetry Society of America.
• National Selection Panelist, 2021-2022 Tulsa Artist Fellowship. 
• English Graduate Student Association (EGSA) Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award, Oklahoma State University, 2019-2020.
• Contest Judge, Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize, Franklin & Marshall College. June 2020.
• Spring Travel Award, College of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma State University. 2020.
• Fellow, The MacDowell Colony. 2019.
• Residency. Bethany Arts Community, 2019.
• Contest Judge, Undergraduate Poetry Contest, Cameron University. 2019.
• Contest Judge, Backbone Press "Shared Dream" Chapbook Prize, 2018.
• Honorable Mention, 2018 Sheila Motton Poetry Book Prize (New England Poetry Club)
• Howard Nemerov Poetry Scholarship (Sewanee Writers' Conference), 2016.
• Robert M. Hogge Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching, Weber State University, 2014-2015.
• Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. (PAWA) Manuel G. Flores Prize, 2014.
• Inprint/Barthelme Fellowship in Poetry, 2013.
• Dissertation Completion Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, University of Houston, 2012-2013.
• Academy of American Poets Prize, 2010.
• Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, 2009-2011.