Literature | Gator Greats

Kim Addonizio

Poet/novelist

A self-described "late-bloomer," she discovered poetry in her late 20s as a liberal studies undergrad. She went on to earn an M.A. in creative writing -- and critical acclaim. "Tell Me," her third collection of poetry, was a finalist for a 2000 National Book Award.

Rae Armantrout

Poet

For "Versed," her ninth volume of poetry, she received both a National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize.

Po Bronson

Novelist

He gave up a lucrative career as a bond trader to study creative writing at SF State, where his best-selling novel "Bombardiers" began life as a writing assignment for a class.

Kelly Corrigan

Writer

This author of the bestselling memoir, "The Middle Place," recalls SF State as a great school where she was humbled by 1,000 page-a-week reading assignments and privileged to have professors like Michael Krasny and Bruce Avery.

Ernest J. Gaines

Novelist

This MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient and author of the bestselling "A Lesson Before Dying" says the biggest thrill of his career remains the day that an SF State literary journal published his story "The Turtles" in the '50s.

Gerald Haslam

Writer

After earning a B.A. and M.A. in English at SF State, he achieved critical acclaim for his fiction focused on rural California, including the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award.

Devorah Major

Poet/novelist

This San Francisco Poet Laureate's father was the first director of the Educational Opportunity Program at SF State. She arrived on campus right after the student strikes and found her home in the Black Studies department where she devoured the curriculum.

Frances Mayes

Author

This alumna returned to SF State to teach literature but after the success of "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany," she said arrivederci so she could write full time.

Michael McClure

Poet

One of the Beat period's most accomplished poets, he's well-known for authoring the controversial poem "The Beard" but less known for co-writing Janis Joplin's 1971 hit, Mercedes Benz.

Janice Mirikitani

Poet/activist

She marched in demonstrations at SF State during the turbulent '60s and went on to become San Francisco's 2000 poet laureate and executive director/president of the Glide Foundation.

Carol Muske-Dukes

Poet/novelist

This creative writing graduate was inspired by instructors Stan Rice, Nanos Valoritis and Kay Boyle. Now a professor at the University of Southern California, the former Poet Laureate of California continues to do some inspiring of her own.

Anne Rice

Novelist

She and her late husband, Stan -- the inspiration for the vampire Lestat in "Interview With the Vampire" -- earned BAs together in 1964. She stayed on for a master's program, and to teach and run the Poetry Center.

Philip Schultz

Poet

"Failure," the title of his sixth collection of poems, is a bit ironic considering it won this English graduate the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Cole Swensen

Poet

One of five writers whose poetry collections were nominated for a 2004 National Book Award, she says former professors including Nanos Valaoritis and Frances Mayes helped her hone her craft.

Gail Tsukiyama

Novelist

She had her eye on a film career when she started at SF State but fell in love with language instead and now writes such bestsellers as "Women of the Silk" and "Dreaming Water."

Thomas Watkins

Writer/teacher

This late environmental writer edited the Wilderness Society's magazine and served as the first Wallace Stegner Distinguished Professor of Western American Studies at Montana State University. His numerous publications include a Harold Ickes biography, a finalist for the National Book Award.