Beth Houston
Writer, Educator, Publisher
BETH HOUSTON, MA, MFA, has taught creative writing, literature, and composition at ten universities and colleges in California and Florida and has worked as a writer and editor. Her publications include poetry, fiction, and nonfiction books, and over two hundred works in literary and professional journals such as Yale Review, California Quarterly, Massachusetts Review, Chicago Review, New York Quarterly, Sand Hill Review, Sinister Wisdom, 13th Moon, Blue Unicorn, The Road Not Taken, and College English, as well as anthologies including the Able Muse Anthology and Drive, They Said: Poems About Americans and Their Cars. The Literary Review featured her poetry on Web Del Sol, and she was the first featured poet in Half Tones To Jubilee and the first featured poet at Able Muse Review. Beth was juror for the Marin Arts Council Grants for Poetry.
Beth is poetry editor at Rhizome Press. Be sure to check out the press's anthologies: Extreme Sonnets, featuring nearly two hundred true-to-form sonnets by over forty contemporary poets; Extreme Formal Poems, featuring over 150 expertly crafted poems by nearly forty of the best poets writing today, many of them multi-award winners; and a second sonnet anthology, Extreme Sonnets II.
C.B. Anderson, David Gwilym Anthony, Marcus Bales, Melissa Balmain, Lisa Barnett, Bruce Bennett, Jerome Betts, Jane Blanchard, John J. Brugaletta, Susan Jarvis Bryant, Mike Carson, Jared Carter, Cheryl Carty, Catherine Chandler, Ted Charnley, Maryann Corbett, Patrick Daly, Diane Elayne Dees, M. Frost Delaney, Susan de Sola, Kevin Durkin, Daniel Galef, Nicole Caruso Garcia, Claudia Gary, Dana Gioia, Mel Goldberg, Midge Goldberg, D.R. Goodman, Benjamin S. Grossberg, Max Gutmann, Robin Helweg-Larsen, Beth Houston, Greg Huteson, Mark Jarman, B. Fulton Jennes, A.M. Juster, Jean L. Kreiling, Barbara Loots, Duncan Gillies MacLaurin, Susan McLean, Peter Meinke, Eric Meub, JD Michael, Leslie Monsour, Chris O'Carroll, Alexander Pepple, Kyle Potvin, Katherine Quevedo, Marybeth Rua-Larsen, Joseph Salemi, Wendy Sloan, Elizabeth Spencer Spragins, David Stephenson, Rob Stuart, Carol A. Taylor, Tim Taylor, Gail White, Debra Wierenga, Thomas Zimmerman
Beth's Indie Books
Beth spends a good deal of time online advocating for progressive causes, her primary focus being the dismantling of oligarchy in the U.S. and abroad, eradication of human trafficking, and the movement away from religion-centered fundamentalist extremism to the God-centered commonsense benevolence known as New Deism. Her provocative books on Deism, Born-Again Deist (2nd ed.) and Natural God, challenge prescribed beliefs with new thoughts about God, religion, spirituality, science, politics, and creativity. (Might you be a New Deist?) Beth's mystery thriller, Blood Moon Burning, pivots around child sex trafficking and vigilante serial murders.
Beth's poetry books (currently out of print) are Angels in Exile, The Goddess of Weeds, Cracked Mirror, In Tongues of Violent Angels, Exothermic Reaction (200 sonnets,), and Cabbage Patch (haiku).
Beth has taught at these universities and colleges
San Francisco State University; University of California, Berkeley Extension; University of California, Santa Cruz Extension; Harvey Milk Institute; Eckerd College; University of Central Florida; University of South Florida; University of Tampa; State College of Florida; Polk State College
College and university creative writing courses Beth has taught
Advanced Poetry; Poets Studied and In Conversation; Art and Craft of Poetry I and II; Experimenting With Poetry; Forms in Poetry; Poetry Workshop; Poetry Workshop for Majors; Poetry Writing for Non-Majors; Writng and Appreciating Modern and Contemporary Poetry; Craft of Poetry and Fiction; Experimenting with Poetry and Fiction; Advanced Fiction; Short Fiction Workshop; Short-Short Story; Creative Nonfiction; Personal Essay; One-Act Play; Screenwriting; Writing Between Genres; Experiments With Creative Writing; Exploring Your Creative Writing Potential; Introduction to Creative Writing; Creative Writing for Non-majors; Directed Studies (poetry, fiction, screenwriting); Upper Division and Graduate Directed Writing; Special Study in Creative Writing; Thesis (poetry, fiction, screenwriting, playwriting); Graduate Thesis and Oral Exams (poetry); Experimenting With Poetry for Teens (UCB summer program); Word Play: Poetry Writing & Slamming for Teens (UCB summer program)
Other university writing courses Beth has taught
Writing Processes; Composition I and II (Exposition; Argument); Honors Composition I and II.
College Dual Enrollment courses include: Creative Writing I and II; American Literature; British Literature; Composition I and II (Exposition; Argument)
College Dual Enrollment courses include: Creative Writing I and II; American Literature; British Literature; Composition I and II (Exposition; Argument)
Courses with visiting guest poets
Among the university courses Beth created and taught, Poets Studied and In Conversation (University of California, Berkeley Extension) and the Art and Craft of Poetry I and II (University of California, Santa Cruz Extension) involved guest poets who each engaged with students during a 3-hour class the week following class discussion of that poet's latest book.
Links to guest poets
Brenda Hillman; Carol Snow; Carolyn Kizer; CB Follett; Chana Bloch; Dan Bellm; Dana Gioia; Diana O'Hehir; Edward Kleinschmidt-Mayes; Forrest Hamer; Jack Foley; Jane Hirshfield; Jewell Gomez; Kathleen Fraser; Kay Ryan; Leslie Monsour; Molly Fisk; Priscilla Lee; Suzanne Lummis; Thom Gunn; Troung Tran. In addition, actress Marion Eaton attended classes to recite and discuss excerpts from her one-woman theater production featuring the work of Edna St. Vincent Millay, under the direction of Robert Leopold, Ph.D., professor emeritus, San Francisco State University.
Learn more about Beth and her books on her Amazon Author page, Goodreads, Facebook, Facebook Author, and Bluesky.