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Nicholas Regiacorte

Professor of English & Director of Creative Writing

Nicholas Regiacorte

Meet Professor Regiacorte

Years at Knox: 2002 to present

"I often think of clay hills, d'Adamo walking backwards, or riding his wagon full of seedlings, reciting proverbs and tales to those doing the planting, such as my father and grandfather. Come on boys, know the one about Cilacchiatt—who tied chickens to his belt? End of the row and I'll tell you how he fared-jumping from a fifth floor window.

Is it too much to ask of a poem that it sustain us, or our curiosity at least, to the end of the 'row'? Is it too much to ask for an instant of faith in Cilacchiatt's power to fly? In reading, writing, and teaching it strikes me as utterly indispensable."

Education

M.F.A., Creative Writing-Poetry, University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.
B.A., English Literature, Roanoke College.

Teaching Interests

Poetry writing, modern and contemporary American literature, English prosody, non-fiction writing, and letterpress printing.

Personal Website

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Publications

"Ingrid of De Rerum Natura," Dialogist, February 2023.

American Massif, a collection of poems, published by Tupelo Press.

"'Grotto to Sebastian,' reprinted on Verse Daily, September 2022."

“American Mastodon – The Strife of Love in a Dream,” Colorado Review, 2020."

"Swift Entanglements," reprinted in the Munjoy Hill Observer. July 2016.

"American Mastodon, "American Mastodon at home, "China in a Bullshop, "American Mastodon contemplates himself as art object, "American Mastodon ponders the flowers of his youth,

"American Mastodon in which the conceit of himself weighs on his prospects for happiness,

"American Mastodon to his fading vestiges," (seven poems), Descant, volume 54, 2015

Honors/Grants

  • Finalist for Cleveland State University's First Book Prize 2017, 2018, 2019. 
  • Finalist for Rescue Press' Black Box Poetry Prize, 2018.
  • Knox Faculty Research / Creative Work Grant: The Collider and the Tholos - 2016-2017.
  • Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Excellence in Teaching for Tenured Faculty, Knox College, 2012.
  • Finalist for Marsh Hawk's Poetry Prize in 2010.
  • Finalist for New Issues Poetry Prize in 2008.
  • Finalist for Marsh Hawk's Poetry Prize in 2007.
  • Winner of 14 Hills' 2005 Bambi Holmes Award for "Grotto."
  • Nominee for a Pushcart Prize, 2003, 2004.
  • Finalist for Sarabande Press' Kathryn A. Morton Prize, 2002.
  • Finalist for the Ruth Lily Poetry Fellowship, 1997.
  • Fulbright Fellow, Southern Italy, 2000-2001.
  • James Michner-Paul Engle Fellow, Iowa City, Iowa, 1998-1999.

Campus & Community Involvement

What Students Say

  • One of the reasons Nick succeeds at inspiring students lies in his insistence that they write what they would not write and read what they would not read. That he is an impressive cook, an accomplished chalkboard sketch artist, and has great taste in music, is not unrelated; that is to say, it is through Nick's concept of entire learning that his students come to understand why poetry matters.

    Thomas Cook,

    Creative Writing Major