Biography
"I did not set out to write poetry: to choose a life dedicated to the lonely struggle of stringing words together. In a society of click-on instant gratification where we’re bombarded by messages promising paradise if we buy a certain brand of toilet paper, such word-stringing is negated. But what was my choice? I wished to live deeply, not just on the surface of things.
Art begins where science leaves off. And it was art that offered me a rope, not a rope to pull me out of life, but a rope to lower me more deeply in it. To go down under the glittering surface and come up with the news of what I found there. To hang on to the rope of language, just as the visual artist hangs on a rope of color and line, the composer a rope ladder of tones." ~ Alice Friman
Click here for a background article from the New Georgia Encyclopedia by Gary Kerley.
Alice Friman is a Jewish American Poet creating out of Georgia in the United States.
Professional Experience:
Visiting Poet, Randolph College, Spring 2009
Poet in Residence, Georgia College & State University, 2006 - 2017
Poetry Editor, Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture, and Instructor of Creative Writing and Poetry at Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, 2003-2006
Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing, 1993-, University of Indianapolis (at U of I 1971-93)
See “In the Service of the Muse: Alice Friman.” By Rebecca Blair. Profiles in Service. Indianapolis: U of Indianapolis P, 2006. 96-99.
Visiting Professor at Ball State University, 1996
Writer in Residence, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 1989
Visiting Faculty at Indiana State University, 1982
Lecturer at IUPUI, 1971-74
Faculty Positions at Writers’ Conferences:
Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference, Homer AK, 2015
Murray State University, Murray, KY, January 2010
Sotto Voce Poetry Festival, Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV, October 2009
The Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers. June 6-11, 2007
Featured Writer for Poetry. Grand Valley State University Writers Retreat, Grand Rapids, MI. August 2005
Poetry Workshop. Arts & Letters Workshops. Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, May 2004, May 2005
Poetry Workshop. Midwest Writers Conference, Ball State University, Muncie, IN. July 1994, July 1998
Numerous workshops for conferences sponsored by the Writers’ Center of Indiana, since the 1970s
Editorial Work:
Editorial Assistant, The Georgia Review. Fall 2006 and Fall 2017-2018
Poetry Editor, Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture, Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, 2003-2006
Poetry Editor, The Flying Island, Writers' Center of Indiana, 1993, 1996, 2001
Editor, Loaves and Fishes: A Book of Indiana Women Poets, Writers' Center Press, Indianapolis, 1983