Sharon Olds is a highly regarded American poet renowned for the emotional potency, stark realism and stylistic accessibility of her writing, which owes much to the school of American “confessional” poetry. Born in 1942 in San Francisco, Olds received a B.A. (1964) from Stanford University and a Ph.D. (1972) from Columbia University. The winner of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, Olds served as the New York State Poet from 1998-2000 and currently directs the Creative Writing Program at New York University.

Stylistically, Olds’ poetry emphasizes the use of colloquial run-ons, exquisite rhythms accentuated

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First published 05 February 2004

Citation: Parras, John. "Sharon Olds". The Literary Encyclopedia. 5 February 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3410, accessed 9 February 2010.]