I am a writer living on the northeast coast of Scotland and the folklore and history of this place deeply influences my work. For the past year I have been researching the monuments to accused witches across Scotland and writing up these field notes from visits to these sites. This is culminating in a book length work of new nature writing and creative nonfiction.
I was born in the United States and have lived in the UK for almost two decades. Extensive travel and my dual nationality inform my work. My writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and my poems have been selected for awards by Pulitzer Prize winners John Ashbery and Charles Simic. Much of my work has appeared in anthologies and literary journals, and continues to find home in publications due out in the near future.
Praise for my poetry:
“Here Narrative–if elsewhere in disgrace,
dares lift her skirts–she’s armed with talons–
and show her face.
What’s this she hurls with both her fists?
Bonbons from the burning moon
to poison our parents–
not a moment too soon.”
–Rikki Ducornet“Allyson Shaw’s poetry wrestles fearlessly with strong angels, and invokes the aid of some great provocateurs – William Blake and Sylvia Plath among them. The drama is terrific here: Shaw has a righteous quarrel with the order of things, and at the same time her language displays a tender, eloquent love of this world. Passion and pattern strike a rare accord in these poems.”
– Judith Grossman, author of How Aliens Think“Allyson Shaw renders female experience with the dark wit of Anne Sexton– mixed with the sensual surprise and elegiac glee of Emily Dickinson.” — Jill Hoffman, author of Mink Coat.
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You can find my Goodreads author profile here.
