Mary Foulk '91

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Photo of Mary Foulk

Mary Foulk '91

Tags: Poet, Writer, Arts Administrator, Arts Educator

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Department: English

Bio

A graduate of Princeton University (BA in English), Columbia University Teachers College (MA in English Education), and Vermont College of Fine Arts (MFA in Poetry), Mary Warren Foulk (she/her) has been published in The Hollins Critic, Palette Poetry, Fjords Review, The Gay & Lesbian Review, and North American Review, among other publications. Her work also has appeared in Who’s Your Mama? The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers (Soft Skull Press), (M)othering Anthology (Inanna Publications), and My Loves: A Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems (Ghost City Press). She has two award-winning chapbooks, If I Could Write You a Happier Ending (dancing girl press) and Erasures of My Coming Out (Letter) (The Poetry Box). A third, Dear Beautiful Gay, was published in June 2025, a companion to her Erasures (The Poetry Box). Her newest collection, The Show Must Go On (Fernwood Press), was a finalist for the 2021 Gival Press Poetry Award, and the Inlandia Institute’s 2022 Hillary Gravendyk Prize, and a semi-finalist for the Word Works' 2022 Washington Prize. Currently, she works at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Featured Project(s) and Video(s):

The Show Must Go On (Fernwood Press, an imprint of Barclay Press)

https://www.fernwoodpress.com/2025/06/18/the-show-must-go-on/

The Show Must Go On is a memoir in poems, centering on the topics of sibling loss and queer identity, including queer parenting.

Erasures of My Coming Out (Letter) (The Poetry Box)

https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/erasures

In this hybrid erasure collection, Mary Warren Foulk is attempting a redaction, flipping the meaning of her “coming out” letter (and the act itself) on its head. What if she never had to “come out?” Never had to write such a letter? What if the process was rendered unnecessary—erased? What might she’d have done with that energy if it hadn’t been wasted on hiding, on passing, on fear, on denial? A few of the questions asked/answered in this powerful poetry.

Dear Beautiful Gay (The Poetry Box)

https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/beautiful-gay

Dear Beautiful Gay is a companion collection to Erasures of My Coming Out (Letter). In this current climate and political context, it is a love letter to a younger self, to LGBTQ+ students, family and friends, to all the “Beautiful Gays. A celebration of our collective humanity - part tribute, part rallying cry.

I’d like to share my expertise with:

  • Alumni

  • Students

I would like to:

  • Speak on a panel

  • Share advice via phone or coffee chat

  • Conduct a workshop

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