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Born: 6/16/1947
Award winning poet and activist Ellen Bass was born in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia-born Ellen Bass co-edited (with Florence Howe) the first major anthology of women's poetry: No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (1973). An advocate for women survivors of child sexual abuse, Bass dedicated years of service to the cause and became a pioneer in the field of supporting the healing process through words, starting with the book (coedited with Louise Thornton) I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (1983). This was followed by The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (1988), coauthored with Laura Davis, and translated into twelve languages. Bass also writes poetry, and her collections include The Human Line (2007), Like a Beggar (2014), and Mules of Love (2002), a Lambda Literary Award-winner, among others.
Ellen Bass was born on June 16, 1947, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in New Jersey, earned a BA from Goucher College (1968), in Baltimore, Maryland, and went on to earn an MA in Creative Writing from Boston University (1970). After years of supporting women survivors of child sexual abuse through service, Bass became a pioneer in bolstering the healing process through words, starting with the book (coedited with Louise Thornton) I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (1983). This was followed by The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (1988), coauthored with Laura Davis, and translated into twelve languages.
In addition, Bass has coauthored (with Laura Davis) Beginning to Heal: A First Book for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (1993) and (with Maria Antonia Salgado) I Like You To Make Jokes With Me But I Don't Want You To Touch Me (1981), a teaching narrative for children.
Remaining active in the community, Bass cofounded the Survivors Healing Center and served as President of Kidpower, Inc. — nonprofits in Santa Cruz, California, where she continues to reside at the time of this writing. Her poems appear regularly in journals such as The New Yorker and The Kenyon Review, and her own poetry collections include, but are not limited to, The Human Line (2007), Like a Beggar (2014), and Mules of Love (2002), a Lambda Literary Award-winner. She is the recipient of a New Letters Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a California Arts Council Fellowship, among others.
At the time of this writing, Bass teaches at Pacific University and has led poetry and creative writing workshops in community programs and across the country as well as beyond its borders.
Poetry
- I'm not your laughing daughter. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1973.
- Of Separateness and Merging. Brookline: Autumn Press, 1975.
- Mules of Love. Rochester: BOA Editions, Ltd, 2002.
- The Human Line. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2007.
- Like a Beggar. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2014.
Anthology
- No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women. New York: Doubleday, 1973.
Nonfiction
- (Edited with Louise Thornton). I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. New York: HarperCollins, 1983.
- (With Laura Davis). The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. New York: Harper Collins, 1988.
- (With Laura Davis). Beginning to Heal: A First Book for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. HarperCollins, 1993.
- (With Kate Kaufman). Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
Children's Book
- (With Maria Antonia Salgado). I I Like You To Make Jokes With Me But I Don't Want You To Touch Me. Chapel Hill: Lollipop Power, 1985.
- Bass, Ellen. Ellen Bass web site. 2013. 26 March 2014. <http://www.ellenbass.com/>.
- "Biography: Ellen Bass." Poetry Foundation. 27 March 2014. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ellen-bass>.
- "Ellen Bass Bio." Other Voices International Poetry Project. Volume 17. 2006. 27 March 2014. <http://www.othervoicespoetry.org/vol17/bass/bio.html>.
- "Ellen Bass Biography (Sample): Author of And What If I Spoke of Despair." BookRags. 27 March 2014. <http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-spokeofdespair/bio.html>.