Faculty

Jacqueline Berger

Program Director, Master of Arts in English

Email: jberger@ndnu.edu
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Biography

Jacqueline Berger’s first book, The Mythologies of Danger, won the Bluestem Award and was published in 1998. It also won the 1998 Bay Area Book Reviewers Association (BABRA) Award. Her second book, Things That Burn, was chosen by Mark Strand as the 2004 winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Prize and was published through the University of Utah Press in 2005. Her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and journals, among them: American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon), On The Verge (Agni Press), Old Dominion Review, Rhino, River Styx, Nimrod, and The Iowa Review. She is the Director of the Master of Arts in English program at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. She lives in San Francisco with her husband.

Education History

  • MFA in Creative Writing, Mills College, 1995.
  • TESL Certificate and Adult Ed. Credential, UC Berkeley Extension, 1988.
  • BA in English, Goddard College, 1982.

Courses Taught

  • Advanced Composition
  • Creative Writing
  • Pedagogy
  • Literature

Recognitions

  • Tupelo Press Dorset Prize, Finalist, The Gift That Arrives Broken, 2008
  • Truman State University, Finalist, The Gift That Arrives Broken, 2006
  • University of Wisconsin, Semifinalist, The Gift That Arrives Broken, 2006
  • Atlanta Review, International Publication Prize, 2006
  • University of Utah, Agha Shahid Ali Prize, First Prize, Things That Burn, 2004
  • New Millennium Writings, First Prize, 2004
  • University of Akron Poetry Award, Finalist, 2004
  • New Letters Poetry Award, Finalist, 2004
  • Utah State University, May Swenson Award, Finalist, 2003
  • Lynx House Press, Semifinalist, 2003
  • River Styx International Poetry Contest, Finalist, 2003
  • Napa Valley Writers Conference; selected for one-week conference, 2003
  • National Poetry Series, Finalist, 2002
  • Bear Star Poetry Award, Finalist, 2002
  • Bay Area Book Reviews Association (BABRA) Award,
  • First Prize, The Mythologies of Danger, 1998
  • San Francisco Bay Guardian Poetry Award, First Prize and Honorable Mention, 1998
  • Ragdale; selected for two-week working residencies, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1998,
    1999
  • Bluestem First Book Award, First Prize, The Mythologies of Danger, 1997
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; selected for one-month working residency,
    Mt. San Angelo, Virginia, 1997
  • Mary Merit Poetry Award, Mills College, First Prize, 1994, 1995
  • Pushcart Prize nomination, 1993
  • Squaw Valley Community of Writers; selected for one-week conference, 1991, 1992

Conferences

  • “Uses of Repetition in Contemporary Poetry,” Seminar in Humanities, NDNU, 2006
  • Poetry Workshop and Craft Presentation, University of Utah, 2005
  • “The Shape of the Poem,” NDNU/Foothill Writers Conference, 2004
  • Poetry Workshop and Craft Presentation, Emporia State University, Kansas, 1997

Literary Readings

  • Litquake, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, California, 2007
  • Passaic County Community College, Paterson, New Jersey, 2006
  • Dutton’s Bookstore, Los Angeles, California, 2005
  • University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2005
  • Book Passage, Corte Madera, California, 2005
  • Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California, 2004
  • A Different Light Bookstore, West Hollywood and San Francisco, California, 1998
  • Cody’s Bookstore, Berkeley, California, 1997, 1998, 2004
  • Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, 1997

Community Activities

  • At NDNU:
    • Graduate Curriculum and Academic Standards Committee, 2006 – Present
          Committee Chair, 2008
    • General Education Review Committee, 2007 – Present
    • Student Conduct Board, 2008

Publications

  • Books
    • Things That Burn, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2005
    • The Mythologies of Danger, Bluestem Press, Emporia, Kansas, 1998
  • Poems
    • “My Mother’s Refrigerator” River Styx, 2008
    • “The Routine After Forty” North American Review, 2007
    • “Watching Them Sleep” Atlanta Review, 2007
    • “Cigarettes” Smartish Pace, 2007
    • “The Gift That Arrives Broken” Passaic, 2006
    • “At the Pool” Georgia State Review, 2006
    • “What is There” Southern Poetry Review, 2006
    • “Gin” “The Weight of Blood” “At the Holiday Crafts Fair” The Iowa Review, 2006
    • “Evening News” Kalliope, 2005
    • “Retracing the Steps” Elixir, 2004
    • “The Warmest Day of the Year” New Millennium Writings, 2004
    • “Prayer” Nimrod, 2004
    • “The Snake Handler” Runes, 2002
    • “The Continuous Present” Convolvulus, 1997
    • “Getting to Know Her” The Dominion Review, 1997
    • “Accident” Mediphors Journal, 1997
    • “The Idea of What They Had” Porcupine, 1997
    • “Myself in Them” The Yalobusha Review, 1997
    • “Between Worlds” Mudfish, 1996
    • “Invisible Wires” Pleiades, 1996
    • “At the Sink” Rhino, 1996
    • “Living Alone” “Science Radio” River Styx, 1996
    • “Two Men” Poetry Flash, 1995
    • “Americans” Northwest Review, 1984
  • Anthologies
    • “Grandfather”, Agni Review and Agni Anthology of Emerging Poets, 1995
    • “Getting to Know Her”, “The Gun”, “Between Worlds”, American Poetry: The Next Generation, Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2000
  • Nonfiction
    • “Poetry and Shame” Fishdance Review, 1997