McKinney, Irene 1939-

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McKinney, Irene 1939-

PERSONAL:

Born April 20, 1939, in WV; daughter of Ralph (a farmer and teacher) and Celia (a homemaker) Durrett; married Joseph McKinney, 1956 (marriage ended, 1974); children: Julia Marie McKinney Vickers, Paul Steven. Ethnicity: "Caucasian, Appalachian." Education: West Virginia Wesleyan College, B.A., 1968; West Virginia University, M.A., 1970; University of Utah, Ph.D., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Belington, WV.

CAREER:

West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, professor of English, 1998-2005. Visiting poet at Western Washington University, 1998, and University of New Mexico, 2004.

WRITINGS:

POETRY

The Girl with the Stone in Her Lap, North Atlantic, 1976.

Quick Fire and Slow Fire, North Atlantic, 1988.

Six o'Clock Mine Report, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1989.

(Editor) Back Country: Contemporary Writing in West Virginia (poetry and prose), West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV), 2002.

Vivid Companion, West Virginia University Press (Morgantown, WV), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Irene McKinney told CA: "Poetry is the center of my life. I feel great gratitude for its presence in the world, and for how it is a paradigm for the mystery of all life. Poetry fulfills no economic or material function. Poetry is what is left over after everything else has been explained."

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McKinney, Irene 1939-

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