Dr. Sasha West is a poet and associate professor of creative writing. Her teaching specializations include poetry, the hybrid genre, creativity studies, eco-poetics, and intersections between the visual and literary arts. She coordinates the Environmental Humanities minor.

Sasha West’s first book of poems, Failure and I Bury the Body (Harper Perennial), was a winner of the National Poetry Series and the Texas Institute of Letters Bob Bush First Book of Poetry Award.  Her next book, How to Abandon Ship, is forthcoming from Four Way Books in 2024. Her poems and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including: The American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, Kenyon Review Online, Ninth Letter, Copper Nickel, Ecotone, Georgia Review, Born Magazine, and Crazyhorse. She received the St. Edward's University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020 and shared the Hudspeth Innovative Teaching Award with Graphic Design Professor Jimmy Luu in 2022. 

Year Started

Education

PhD in Creative Writing & Literature, University of Houston

MA in Poetry, Writing Seminars, Johns Hopkins University

BAs in General Literature and Psychology, University of California San Diego

Achievement & Involvement

Honors and Awards

Fellowship, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference

National Poetry Series, Winner

Texas Institute of Letters, First Book of Poetry Bob Bush Award

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Louis Untermeyer Scholarship

Houston Arts Alliance Establish Artist Grant

Rice University Parks Fellowship

Inprint's Verlaine Prize

Organizations, Boards and Memberships

2015-present, Advisory Board Member, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts

2006-2015, Board Member, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts

2007-2012, President of Board, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts

2003-2006, Editor-in-Chief, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts

2009, 2012, Poetry Curator, Menil Collection

Publications & Articles

Publications

Failure and I Bury the Body, Harper Perennial, 2013

Department Group

School Group

School of Arts and Humanities