Tess Gallagher (born 1943) is an American poet, essayist, and short story writer. Among her many honors were a fellowship from theGuggenheim Foundation,National Endowment for the Arts award, Maxine Cushing Gray Foundation Award.^[1]

Gallagher was born inPort Angeles,Washington to logger and longshoreman Leslie Bond and gardener mother Georgia Bond. She studied with poet-intellectualTheodore Roethke in theUniversity of Washington, earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English.^[2] She also attended theIowa Writers' Workshop, where she made films.^[3]

In November 1977 Gallagher metRaymond Carver, a short story writer and poet, at a writers' conference inDallas, Texas and their relationship very much influenced her literary work, which included helping to edit and publish his writing.^[4][5] Beginning in January 1979, Carver and Gallagher lived together inEl Paso, Texas, in a borrowed cabin nearPort Angeles, Washington, and inTucson, Arizona. In 1980, the two moved toSyracuse, New York, where Gallagher had been appointed the coordinator of the creative writing program atSyracuse University; Carver taught as a professor in the English department. They jointly purchased a house in Syracuse, at 832 Maryland Avenue. In ensuing years, the house became so popular that the couple had to hang a sign outside that read "Writers At Work" in order to be left alone.^[6]

In 1988, six weeks prior to his death, Carver and Gallagher married inReno, Nevada.

Tess Gallagher spends part of her time living in a cottage inCounty Sligo,Ireland, and has a long-time Irish partner.^[1][7]

Raymond Carver influenced her to write the short stories that were collected inThe Lover of Horses (1986).

She wroteMoon Crossing Bridge, a collection of love poems dedicated to Raymond Carver, who died in 1988.

She published the essay "Instead of Dying" inThe Sun Magazine about Raymond Carver's life.^[8][1][9]

Distant Rain, published in 2006, is a conversation between Tess andJakucho Setouchi, a Buddhist nun fromKyoto, that happened in Japan in 1990. They spoke about poetry, Tess Gallagher's grief about Raymond Carver, and differences between cultures.^[10]

Tess Gallagher wrote the book of poetryBoogie-Woogie Crisscross in collaboration with Lawrence Matsuda. They sent each other emails with new poetry and ideas, then from these correspondences was gathered the book. The collaboration started when Alfredo Arreguin, Tess Gallagher's friend, gave her poetry by Lawrence Matsuda's aboutWorld War II and Japanese who were imprisoned in campMinidoka located in the western United States. Tess Gallagher helped Lawrence Matsuda to find a publisher for the poetry about Minidoka and this was how their literary friendship began.^[11]

Gallagher has taught at various institutions includingSt. Lawrence University,University of Montana,University of Arizona,Syracuse University,^[2]Bucknell University, andWhitman College.^[1]

Collections

• Stepping outside : poems. Lisbon, Iowa: Penumbra Press. 1974.
• Instructions To The Double. Graywolf Press. 1975.ISBN 978-0-91530-803-3.
• Under Stars. Graywolf Press. 1978.ISBN 978-0-915308-19-4.
• Willingly. Graywolf Press. 1984.ISBN 978-0-915308-46-0.
• The Hug. 1984.
• Amplitude. Graywolf Press. 1987.ISBN 978-1-55597-099-4.
• Moon Crossing Bridge. Graywolf Press. 1992.ISBN 978-1-55597-156-4.
• I Stop Writing the Poem. 1992.
• Portable Kisses. Capra Press. 1992.ISBN 978-0-88496-342-4.
• My Black Horse. Bloodaxe. 1995.ISBN 978-1-85224-306-7.
• Dear Ghosts(Poetry Finalist for 2007Washington State Book Award). Graywolf Press. 2006.ISBN 9781555974435.
• Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems. Graywolf Press. 2011.ISBN 978-1-55597-597-5.
• Gallagher, Tess; Matsuda, Lawrence (March 31, 2016).Boogie-Woogie Crisscross. Madhat, Inc. / Plume Editions.ISBN 978-1941196298.
• Is, Is Not:Poems. Graywolf Press. 2019.ISBN 978-1-55597-841-9.

Collections

• The Lover of Horses. Harper & Row. 1986.ISBN 978-0-06-091435-6.
• At The Owl Woman Saloon. Simon & Schuster [Scribner]. 1999 [1997].ISBN 978-0-684-84756-6.
• The Man From Kinvara: Selected Stories. Graywolf Press. 2009.ISBN 978-1-55597-537-1.

Stories^[12]

• A concert of tenses: essays on poetry. University of Michigan Press. 1986.ISBN 978-0-472-09370-0.
• Soul Barnacles. University of Michigan Press. 2003.ISBN 978-0-472-08912-3.

• With Raymond Carver (December 1985)."Dostoevsky: A Screenplay" & "King Dog a Screenplay" (Paperback ed.). Capra Back-to-Back Series.
• Words Like Distant Rain (2006)
• With Josie Gray (January 2009).Barnacle Soup and Other Stories from the West of Ireland. Eastern Washington University Press.ISBN 978-1597660365.

• Patrice Vecchione, ed. (2002)."Sudden Journey".The Body Eclectic: An Anthology of Poems. Macmillan.ISBN 978-0-8050-6935-8.

• The Tess Gallagher Literary Archive at The Ohio State University Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection

• 1943 births
• Living people
• American essayists
• American short story writers
• American women essayists
• American women poets
• American women short story writers
• The Atlantic (magazine) people
• University of Washington alumni
• University of Arizona faculty
• St. Lawrence University faculty
• University of Montana faculty
• Bucknell University faculty
• Syracuse University faculty
• Whitman College faculty
• Writers from Port Angeles, Washington
• American women academics
• 21st-century American women

• CS1 errors: missing periodical
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2011