Patrice Melnick is a writer, arts administrator and arts activist. She is the founder of the Festival of Words, a rural, literary arts organization in St. Landry Parish. Melnick taught English and creative writing at Xavier University in New Orleans for 13 years before
moving to Grand Coteau. She has also taught a Literary Nonfiction Workshop in the low-residency MFA program at the University of New Orleans. Patrice Melnick holds a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
She has been honored for both her writing and community contributions. Her poem “Tattoos and Birthmarks,” was awarded 3rd prize in Federico Garcia Lorca Poetry Prize (2013). She was named as one of the Louisianians of the Year by Louisiana Life Magazine, 2019; Outstanding Educator of the year by Lafayette Parish Democratic party, 2018 and in April, 2013 she received a Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Award for Public Programming. In 2014, she received the Oliver-Sigur Humanitarian Award from The Louisiana Council on Human Relations.
Melnick’s poems and essays have appeared in many literary journals including Prism International, Red Brick Review and Grain. Her publications include a memoir, Po-boy Contraband: from Diagnosis Back to Life (Catalyst Press) and a poetry chapbook, City of Hey Baby (Finishing Line Press). Melnick lives in Grand Coteau where she lives with her loving and very patient husband, Olan Thibodeaux.
Personal web site: https://patricemelnick.com/
Rainwater
Lemon Sestina
A Reporter Who Parties
Tattoos and Birthmarks
PO-Boy Contraband
by
Turning up the Volume
by
Books
City of Hey Baby. (Finishing Line Press). Fall 2020.
Poboy Contraband: From Diagnosis Back to Life. (Catalyst Press.) June 2012.
The Spirit of Grand Coteau. (captions and introduction). (ULL Press). November, 2012.
Turning Up the Volume. Xavier University Press. 2010.
Poems
“Fainting,” Bateau Ivre, A Journal of Performance, Literature and Art. May, 2016
“Tattoos and Birthmarks,” Green Briar Review. Fall 2013: Issue 1.4. 3rd prize in Federico Garcia Lorca Poetry Prize. (Judge: Sean Thomas Dougherty.) December 2014.
“Catalpa Tree,” This Road,” “French Quarter, New Orleans,” Dancing at Tipitina’s.” Vision/Verse, Yellow Flag Press. Spring, 2013.
“HIV Survey,” HEArt (Human Equity Through Art), Spring, 2002.
“Confessions of a Carnivore,” The Beat of the Forum: 1971--2001 New Orleans Poetry Forum Calendar.
"Fainting," The Bridge: A Journal of Fiction and Poetry. Spring, 1998.
"A Woman Tries on Shoes,” From the Bend in the River: Anthology of New Orleans Poetry, Spring, 1998.
"Ndoli Sees the President," Buffalo Bones, December, 1996.
"A Cat Mourns," Immortelles: Poems About Life and Death by New Southern Writers, January, 1995.
"Awa Speaks," Xavier Review, Fall 1993.
"Sabine the Cook Warns Me," Painted Hills Review, April, 1991.
Essays
“Reflections on the Creative Writing Program at Xavier University.” New Voices 2017—2018. Xavier Press.
AMid-City Rock'n' Bowl,@ New Orleans: What Can't Be Lost. (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) Summer, 2010.
"Water," Drunken Boat, Vol. 9. Winter, 2007.
"Creole House," Drunken Boat, Vol. 9. Winter, 2007.
“My Movie,” 52%. The Womyn's Centre, Ottawa, Ontario. Spring, 2002.
“Intimacy,” ACORN. Spring, 2002.
“Mormons and Dogs,” Red Brick Review. Spring, 2002.
“Blood, Milk and Millet,” The Unsavvy Traveler. Fall, 2001.
“Giving out Change,” Journal of College Writing. Fall, 2001.
“Rearranging the Furniture,” Prism International, Spring, 2001.
“Boa Constrictor,” The Xavier Review, Spring, 2000.
"An Essay that Wanders Like Water," Grain. Summer, 1997.
"A White Night in Africa," Prism International. Spring 1995.
"Munju," The Naked Anthropologist: Tales from Around the World. (Wadsworth Press) 1992.
"Broken Dishes," 1991 Quarterly. Winter/Spring 1991.
Articles (links)
https://mockingheartreview.com/2021/01/15/city-of-hey-baby-an-interview-with-patrice-melnick/
https://www.weirdsouth.com/post/city-of-hey-baby
http://wwwrebeccaelswick.blogspot.com/2012/06/patrice-melnick-louisiana-poet-festival.html