Carol Hebald

Born in New York City, I graduated at eighteen from the Drama Department of the High School of Performing Arts. From 1952-64, I played the following roles on the New York stage: Edelgard in the award winning Equity Library Theatre production of Christa Winsloe's MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM; Hanako in the American premiere of Yukio Mishima's HANJO (ANTA Matinee Series at Theatre De Lys); and Pegeen Mike in the Irish Players' production of PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD. On Broadway I played Lucia in THE BEST HOUSE IN NAPLES; and Leah in JANE EYRE.

In 1965 I enrolled as a Freshman at the City College of CUNY, where I studied full time as an English Major. I received my B.A. in 1969: Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, with High Honors in English. I was awarded also at The City College: The William Bradley Otis Fellowship for “Distinguished Contributions to American Literature” (1969), The Elias Lieberman Poetry Award (1969), The Ralph Weinberg Poetry Award (1968), and the Theodore Goodman Short Story Award (1968). A Graduate Assistant in English at the University of Iowa in 1969, I was granted a Teaching and Writing Fellowship in Fiction Writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1970. I received my MFA in 1971.

Having taught Creative Writing at the university level for thirteen years, I resigned a tenured associate professorship in English at University of Kansas in 1984 to write full time. In May, 2001 Northeastern University Press published my memoir, THE HEART TOO LONG SUPPRESSED: A CHRONICLE OF MENTAL ILLNESS. For THREE BLIND MICE/ Two Short Novels (Unicorn Press, 1989), I received the 1988 McGraw-Hill Pushcart Prize nomination. For my novella, A WARSAW CHRONICLE, I received the 1994 HarperCollins Pushcart Prize nomination. For my play MARTHA (CONFRONTATION, Winter, 1991), I received a NYSCA PEN/American grant, and for my poems, the 1986 KANSAS QUARTERLY Seaton Award.

In November 2005 March Street Press published my poetry collection, SPINSTER BY THE SEA. In 2004 March Street Press published my poetry chapbook LITTLE MONOLOGS. My individual poems have been anthologized in Little Brown’s WOMAN, AN ISSUE, Bantam Books INTRO II, and POEMS FROM THE HAWKEYE STATE (Iowa State Univ. Press). They have appeared also in PEN INTERNATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL POETRY REVIEW, COMMONWEAL, MASSACHUSETTS REVIEW, THE HUMANIST, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, ANTIOCH REVIEW, FREE INQUIRY, ARARAT, NEW LETTERS and CONFRONTATION. My short fiction has appeared in NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, NEW LETTERS, COTTONWOOD REVIEW, and TEXAS QUARTERLY.