John Hennessy

John Hennessy received his B.A. from Princeton University, M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and M.F.A. from the University of Arkansas. After two years at Boston University, in 2003 he came to the University of Massachusetts where he has taught a variety of courses in creative writing and literature, including English 499, Foundations and Departures: Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Non-Fiction, a Capstone course for creative writing students.

Hennessy is the author of three collections of poems, Exit Garden State, Bridge and Tunnel, and Coney Island Pilgrims, and his work has been included in multiple editions of The Best American Poetry. He is the co-translator, with Ostap Kin, of A New Orthography, selected poems by Serhiy Zhadan, finalist for the PEN America Award for Poetry in Translation and co-winner of the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, and the anthology Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond, part of the Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature, which received an Honorable Mention for the 2022-2023 Translation Prize from the American Association for Ukrainian Studies. Their most recent book of translations, Set Change: Selected Poems by Yuri Andrukhovych, received support from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the Ukrainian Book Institute and will be published by NYRB in 2024. Hennessy's fiction, poetry, and a variety of literary and critical essays have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including The Believer, Harvard Review, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Poetry,  Poetry Ireland Review, The Sewanee Review, Southwest Review, The Yale Review, What's Your Exit? A Literary Detour Through New Jersey, and Best New Poets 2005. He is the poetry editor of The Common.

•    Transatlantic Review Award in Fiction from the Henfield Foundation
•    Inclusion in Best New Poets 2005
•    2007-2008 Resident Fellowship in Poetry at the Amy Clampitt House
•    Recipient of the 2012 Elizabeth Matchett Stover Memorial Award for Poetry from Southwest Review
•    Guest-blogger for Best American Poetry, 2012
•    Inclusion in The Best American Poetry 2013
•    Recipient of the 2016 Elizabeth Matchett Stover Memorial Award for Poetry from Southwest Review
•    John Frederick Nims Award for Poetry in Translation, Poetry magazine, 2019
•    Judge, National Book Award for Poetry, 2020
•    Co-translator of A New Orthography, co-winner of the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, 2021
•    Recipient of Ukrainian Book Institute’s “Translate Ukraine” grant, 2021
•    Guest-blogger for Best American Poetry, 2021
•    Finalist, PEN America Award for Poetry in Translation (A New Orthography), 2021
•   Honorable Mention, Best Translation (Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond), American Association for Ukrainian Studies, 2022-2023
•   Recipient of Ukrainian Book Institute’s “Translate Ukraine” grant, 2024
•   Inclusion in The Best American Poetry 2024