Frank X. Gaspar

Instructor

Frank X. Gaspar was born and raised in Provincetown, Massachusetts, of Azorean Descent (Pico, Sao Miguel). His ancestors were traditionally whalers and Grand Banks fisherman, sailing out of the Islands and then Provincetown. He holds an MFA from the Graduate Writing Program at UC Irvine and is the author of five collections of poetry and two novels. Among his many awards are multiple inclusions in Best American Poetry, four Pushcart Prizes, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and a California Arts Council Fellowship in poetry. His debut novel,Leaving Pico, was a Barnes and Noble Discovery Prize winner, a recipient of the California Book Award for First Fiction and a New York Times Notable Book (paperback edition). His second novel Stealing Fatima was a MassBook of the Year in Fiction (Massachusetts Foundation for the Book). He most recently held the Helio and Amelia Pedroso/Luso-American Foundation Endowed Chair in Portuguese Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. His new collection of poems, Late Rapturous, will be published by Autumn House in July, 2012. He is currently at work on a new novel