Sandra Beasley


Sandra Beasley is an American poet and non-fiction writer.

Background

Beasley graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, earned a B.A. in English magna cum laude from the University of Virginia, and later received an MFA degree from American University. For several years she worked as an editor at The American Scholar before leaving the position to write full-time.
Beasley is the author of the poetry collections Theories of Falling and I Was the Jukebox,, as well as the memoir Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life, which is also a cultural history of food allergies. Her poetry has been anthologized in The Best American Poetry 2010, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and Best New Poets 2005, as well as such journals as Poetry, The Believer, AGNI online, Blackbird, Barrelhouse, Copper Nickel, Gulf Coast, and Black Warrior Review. She was a regular contributor to the "XX Files" column for the Washington Post Magazine and more recently her prose has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Psychology Today. She has received fellowships to the University of Mississippi, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, among others honors. She serves on the Board for the and is also a member of the .

Honors and awards