Susan Ludvigson

Susan Ludvigson is an American poet. She has published ten collections of poems, most with Louisiana State University Press. Susan Ludvigson has received Guggenheim, Rockefeller, NEA, Fulbright, and Witter-Bynner, North and South Carolina Fellowships.

The Library of Congress recorded a reading of her poems in 1995. She is the former director of the Lena Miles-Wever Todd Poetry series.

Susan Ludvigson was born in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Ludvigson entered the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, from which she earned a B.A., with honors, in English and psychology in 1965. She received an M.A. in English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1973 and then studied for two years with James Dickey at the University of South Carolina.

Her first volume, Step Carefully in Night Grass, appeared in 1974. Her second book, Northern Lights (1981), signaled greater maturity and began her association with Louisiana State University Press, which published eight following collections.

Since 1979 Ludvigson’s work has earned many awards, including Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships.

Her books include The Swimmer (1982), The Beautiful Noon of No Shadow (1986), To Find the Gold (1990), Everything Winged Must Be Dreaming (1993), Trinity (1996), Sweet Confluence: New and Selected Poems (2000), Escaping the House of Certainty (2006), and Wave If You Can See Me (2020).

Susan Ludvigson lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina.