Su Love (she/they) is the author of six collections of poetry, some published as Su Smallen. Their books include Buddha, Proof, a Minnesota Book Award finalist, and Weight of Light, a Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award nominee. Love is a fiscal year 2024 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.. Her work has been recognized with the Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, the Joy Harjo Prize, and international fellowships and residencies from the Jerome Foundation, Tofte Lake Center, St. Croix Watershed Research Station, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, the Unamuno Author Series in Madrid, Spain, and Salmon Literary Centre in County Clare, Ireland. Their poems and essays have appeared in Bellingham Review, Bloom, Concision Poetry, Cutthroat, Freshwater Review, Nimrod, Normal School, Poetry City USA, Sleet, Smartish Pace, Tupelo, Tinderbox, Water~Stone Review, and many anthologies, most recently Queer Nature and All You Need Is One Avocado. Love presented with Robert Bly on “Poetry as Vocation,” sponsored by the Lilly Foundation. As a publisher, Love founded Laurel Poetry Collective, a small press that produced handsome books and broadsides for ten years in Minnesota.
Love earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at Hamline University and later taught graduate creative writing there. She has been a visiting artist at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Carleton College, Century College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Macalester College, University of Minnesota-Morris, North Hennepin Community College, Rochester University, College of St. Scholastica, St. Olaf College, Rural America Writers Center in Plainview, Wabasha Public Library, Winona Laureate Writers Series, and many K-12 schools in the metro area.
As a dancer and choreographer, Love performed throughout Minnesota. Her poetry has frequently served as scores for dance and film.
Su Love 