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Chard deNiord
Chard deNiord
Born	Richard Newnham deNiord III; December 17, 1952; New Haven, Connecticut
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	American
Education	Master of Fine Arts
Spouse	Elizabeth Hawkes (1971-present)

Richard Newnham "Chard" deNiord III is an American author, Poet Laureate of Vermont (2015–2019), poet, and teacher.

Chard deNiord is the author of nine poetry collections Asleep in the Fire (U.of Alabama, 1990), Sharp Golden Thorn (U.of Pittsburg, 2003), Night Mowing (U.of Pittsburg, 2005), The Double Truth (U.of Pittsburg, 2011), Speaking In Turn (NOMON Press, 2011) a collaboration with Tony Sanders, Interstate (U.of Pittsburg,2015), In My Unknowing (U.of Pittsburg, 2020), One As Other (Green Writers Press, 2024), and Westminster West (Tupolo Press, 2025). His book Sad Friends, Drowned Lovers, Stapled Songs (Marick Press, 2011) is a collection of interviews with seven eminent American poets, including Robert Bly, Lucille Clifton, Jack Gilbert, Donald Hall, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, and Ruth Stone. His second book of interviews from The University of Pittsburgh Press titled "I Would Lie To You If I Could: Interviews with Ten American Poets" (2018) includes interviews with Natasha Thretheway, Jane Hirshfield, Martin Espada, Steven Kuusisto, Stephen Sandy, Ed Ochester, Carolyn Forche, Peter Everwine, Galway Kinnell and James Wright's widow, Anne Wright. He also has written a book of essays on contemporary poetry, Some Main Things (Mad Hat Press, 2025).

Early life and education

DeNiord was born on December 17, 1952, in New Haven, Connecticut. He was raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he attended Lynchburg College, earning a BA in religious studies. He later received a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Career

DeNiord was a teacher at The Putney School in Putney, Vermont (1989-1998).^[1] He currently is a Professor Emeritus at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island where he was professor of English and Creative Writing (1998-2020). He also was director (2001-2008) of the low residency program Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing at New England College which he co-founded with Gerald Stern and Jacqueline Gens.^[2]^[3]"Poets society: New England College program draws some of the country's best", Concord Monitor, Concord, New Hampshire, 2 January 2003, page D1.</ref> He has been a Poetry Fellow at the Sewanee Writers' Conference and the Allan Collins Scholar in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.

DeNiord was the co-founder with Tom Lux and Jacqueline Gens of the Spirit and the Letter Workshop, a ten-day program of workshops and lectures in Patzquaro, Mexico.^[4] ^[3]

He is a recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and his poems have been included in the anthologies Pushcart Prize XXII (1998), Best American Poetry (1999), Best of the Prose Poem (2000), American Religious Poems (2006), and American Poetry Now (2007).

In 2015, DeNiord was named the Vermont State Poet Laureate and served for four years.^[5] In 2022, he was named a Fellow of Vermont's Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a board member at the Sundog Poetry Center and essay editor at Plume Poetry Journal.

He lives in Westminster West, Vermont with his wife Liz.

References

^ Sopper, Frank. "National honors given to Putney School teacher and student for their poetry", Brattleboro Reformer, Brattleboro, Vermont, volume 82, number 65, 17 May 1994, page 7. (subscription required)
^ Proulx, Kristin.
^ ^a ^b Pero, Eric. "On the air: Local radio show brings poetry back home", Weekend Reformer, Battleboro, Vermont, volume 96, number 269, 10–11 January 2009, pages 1 and 8. (subscription required)
^ "Conversations with Vermont Poets - Sundog Poetry Center". Sundog Poetry Center, Inc. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
^ Pollak, Sally. "Chard de Niord to be poet laureate", The Burlington Free Press, Burlington, Vermont, volume 188, number 306, 2 November 2015, page 8A. (subscription required)