Ms. Julie
Gard

(She/Her)
Professor of Writing
Writing
Email:
Office: Swenson Hall 3136

About

Julie received her B.A. in English from Grinnell College and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota. She was a Fulbright Graduate Fellow in Vladivostok, Russia and has traveled by train across Western and Eastern Europe, Siberia, and northern China. She writes and publishes prose poetry, lyric essays, and flash fiction, and her books have been finalists for the Foreword Reviews INDIES Award and the Minnesota Book Award.  She enjoys teaching creative, professional, and academic writing at UW-Superior, as well as serving as the advisor for the college literary magazine, The Nemadji Review. Her areas of expertise include creative writing, creative writing pedagogy, prose poetry, writing and well-being, and experimental and cross-genre writing.

Julie takes full advantage of the foraging opportunities of the Northland, including berries and fiddlehead ferns, and also enjoys time with family, friends, and pets; the regional literary scene; and travel within and outside of the U.S.

Research Interests

Julie is currently obsessed with the fine line between different genres of writing. For example, what’s the difference between a lyric essay and a prose poem series? She’ll be glad to tell you once she figures it out. As Dorothy Parker wisely said, “The only cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” She has found this to be a useful quote to live and write by.

Awards

  • 2023 – INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist in Poetry, Foreword Reviews
  • 2021 – Advisor of the Year, Yellow Jacket Awards, University of Wisconsin-Superior
  • 2021 – Blue Light Press Book Award Finalist
  • 2016 – Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Poetry
  • 2016 – Scholarly Activity Award, University of Wisconsin-Superior
  • 2015 – Many Voices Project Prize, New Rivers Press

Publications

  • I Think I Know You, FutureCycle Press, 2023
  • Scrap: On Louise Nevelson, Ravenna Press, 2018
  • Home Studies, New Rivers Press, 2016
  • Journal publications include Inside Higher Ed, Clackamas Literary Review, Superstition Review, Cloudbank, and Braided Way.

Presentations (Selected)

  • “Self-Care in a Caring Profession.” Conference on Writing and Well-being, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. March 7, 2024.
  • Featured Poet in Readings by Writers Series, University Club, St. Paul, MN. February 20, 2024.
  • “Trash as Telling: Environmental Object Investigations in Northern Minnesota.” Conference on Landscape, Narrative, and Deep Time, St. Louis University – Madrid (virtual). June 2, 2022.

Education

  • 2000 – Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) – Creative Writing, University of Minnesota
  • 1995 – Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) – English, Grinnell College