Discipline: Literature – poetry

Nancy Turner

Discipline: Literature – poetry
MacDowell Fellowships: 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944
Nancy Turner (1880–1971) was an American poet, editor, and lecturer. In 1898 she graduated from Hannah More Academy in Maryland and began work as a teacher. During this period her work appeared in several national magazines including the Saturday Evening Post and Scribner's. In 1917, she moved to Boston to join the editorial staff of The Youth's Companion. By 1922 she was an editor for The Atlantic, The Independent, and Houghton Mifflin. She began multiple residencies at MacDowell in 1925, returning 17 more time until her last residency in 1944. Her first book of poetry, A Riband on My Rein, was published in 1929. Over the course of her career she published 15 books, ranging from adult poetry to children's literature and lyrics. Her work appeared in England and in the United States in such magazines as Good Housekeeping, Harper's Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, and The New Yorker. She retired to Ashland, VA to become a lecturer and freelance writer.