Illinois Authors

The Illinois Center for the Book banner

Christina Ericson Lovin

Born: 1949 in Galesburg, Illinois
Pen Name: Christina E Lovin, Christina Lovin

Connection to Illinois: Lovin is a native Illinoisan, having been born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois. She lived briefly in Indiana and Ohio, before moving back to Illinois for twenty-five years, living in Smithfield, Dwight, and for sixteen years, the Peoria area. Although she has lived in places as varied as Maine, North Carolina, and Kentucky (where she now teaches writing at a state university), much of her writing relates to Illinois. Her award-winning sonnet crown, ''Coal Country'', is set in Knox County, where it weaves back and forth from the early to mid-1900s with stories of her mother and grandmother, as well as those of her own. Her first full-length book, ''A Stirring in the Dark'', contains several poems about Illinois and family. Her second full-length book, ''ECHO: Poems'', is steeped in the Midwest (primarily Illinois), and relates to growing up female in the years between WWII and Viet Nam, against a backdrop of the Space Race (thus the title). She was chosen to be the inaugural writer-in-residence at Connemara (North Carolina) the last home of Galesburg native (and fellow Swede) Carl Sandburg. She has also been chosen to be the featured poet for the 2017 Carl Sandburg Festival in Galesburg.

Biography: A native Mid-Westerner, Christina Lovin was born in Galesburg, Illinois, the hometown of fellow Swedish poet Carl Sandburg, but has lived and worked in states as varied as Indiana, Ohio, Maine, and North Carolina. She now makes her home in Central Kentucky, where she lives with three rescue dogs in a town reminiscent of Mayberry RFD. After having several careers, including minister’s wife, retail shop owner, and VISTA volunteer, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from New England College in 2004. She began teaching college-level writing courses that fall, and is currently a Senior lecturer in the English & Theatre Department at Eastern Kentucky University. Lovin's writing has appeared in over one hundred different literary journals (most recently, ''New Millennium'', ''Hayden’s Ferry Review'', and ''Contrapasso'') and anthologies (''Ghost Fishing'', ''The Doll Collection'', and ''Intimacy: An Anthology''), as well as five volumes of poetry (''Echo'', ''A Stirring in the Dark'', ''Flesh'', ''Little Fires'', and What ''We Burned for Warmth''). She is the recipient of numerous poetry awards, writing residencies, fellowships, and grants, most notably the Al Smith Fellowship from Kentucky Arts Council, Kentucky Foundation for Women, and Elizabeth George Foundation Grant.


Awards:
  • '''''Flesh'''''
  • -- First Honorable Mention, Finishing Line Press Chapbook Contest
  • -- Runner-Up, Concrete Wolf Chapbook Award '''''ECHO'''''
  • -- Semi-Finalist, Crab Orchard Review Book Award '''''A Stirring in the Dark'''''
  • -- Semi-Finalist, Perugia Book Award
  • -- F

Primary Literary Genre(s): Poetry

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: c.lovin@att.net
Website: http://www.christinalovin.com
Christina Ericson Lovin on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=christina+ericson+lovin


Selected Titles

  A stirring in the dark /
ISBN: 0615708218 OCLC: 828866402

Old Seventy Creek Press, Albany, Ky. : ©2012.

Echo :
ISBN: 1933964804 OCLC: 891180119

Harmony Series, Bottom Dog Press, Huron, OH. : ©2014.

  Flesh :
ISBN: 1622294858 OCLC: 890911335

Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Ky. : ©2014.

  Little fires :
ISBN: 1599242109 OCLC: 191103955

Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Ky. : ©2007.

  What we burned for warmth :
ISBN: 159924103X OCLC: 190773510

Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Ky. : ©2006.

 

 

Accessibility