Shanan Ballam is a lecturer for Utah State University, where she teaches poetry writing and fiction writing. She earned her MFA in Poetry Writing from the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and studied under William Trowbridge, Poet Laure- ate of Missouri. She is the author of the chapbook The Red Riding Hood Papers (Finishing Line 2010) and Pretty Marrow (Negative Capability 2013), which was a semi-finalist for the 2010 Brittingham and Pollak Poetry Prizes, the 2010 May Swenson Award, the 2010 Philip Levine Prize in Poetry, and the 2012 Louise Bogan Award; in 2012 it received first place in the Utah Division of Arts and Museums Original Writing Contest, judged by Sue Walker, former Poet Laureate of Ala- bama. In 2013, Shanan was appointed to a four-year term as a member of the Utah Arts Council Board of Directors.
Shanan has taught numerous poetry writing workshops over the years for a variety of diverse groups including abuse and assault victims (workshop sponsored by the Utah State University Women’s Center); children at the Youth Correctional Facility in Ogden, Utah; Senior Citizens at the Senior Center in Price, Utah; Inmates at the Cache County Jail; Elementary School and High School Children; Caregivers of those Suffering with Alzheimer’s Disease; Members of
Utah State Poetry Society; Members of the League of Utah Writers Annual Conferences.