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Meredith Trede is a poet and editor.  She was awarded the James J. Nicholson Political Poetry Prize in April 2012. Her book, Field Theory, was published by SFA Press, Stephen F. Austin State University, October, 2011. 

Praise for Field Theory

“Trede's tough-minded poems are about many kinds of satisfaction—energy, diligence, persistence—but their delight is afforded by the words chosen. That is the secret of (her) poetry.”

Richard Howard

“Field Theory is a book of grown up poems written by and for grown ups: unflinching, tender, original, and deeply skilled.”

Thomas Lux

"Field Theory is a moving, fierce collection of poems:  sometimes playful, always hard-headed, these are sharply observed meditations, across space and time, on village, nation, gender, and class.  Sometimes witty, sometimes tender, Trede's poems are direct, faithful, sometimes joyful, sometimes grieving, and always courageous:  this is the work and play of a wide-awake conscience."

Jean Valentine

Meredith Trede’s poetry in Field Theory is thick with lives; when you open the book it’s as if you’ve walked into a crowded room. She makes portraits with great musicality and tenderness, sometimes in laughter, often in grief. Her poems distill experience; her wry sense of humor keeps simplification at bay. She invites readers into her story, not through a linear and detailed retelling, but with glimpses that encourage them to recall or imagine their own parallel stories, and to draw their own conclusions. These are poems of ironic detachment and passionate engagement.

Meredith has lived and worked in major U.S. cities, small rural towns, and in the suburbs. She draws on all these experiences with poems that see the “small town” embedded in lives in the towering city, the common experiences of life regardless of the setting.

Meredith is a founder of Toadlily Press which has been publishing perfect bound books featuring four poets' chapbooks since 2005. Each book features a diverse group of poets, geographically from Qatar to Washington State, aesthetically from formal to experimental, and demographically from their 20’s to their 70’s.

Embark, published in 2012, is the eighth volume. Toadlily poets have won Pushcart Prizes, NEA Grants, residency fellowships, and state and regional awards.

© 2012, Meredith Trede
Book cover art: © 2011, Nancy Callahan
Site design, Starfish Media