C. A. Conrad

CAConrad (born 1966) is an American poet, professor, and the author of seven books. They were based in Philadelphia and later Asheville, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia.

Early life
CAConrad was born January 1, 1966, in Topeka, Kansas, and grew up in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Their mother was a fourteen-year-old runaway and father was a Vietnam War veteran, their mother married three times.

Conrad was bullied as a child and stated in the feature film documentary, The Book of Conrad (2015), "People called me ‘faggot’ more than they called me my name."

Career
Conrad is known for using and inventing the poetic form of "[Soma]tics." This form is a sort of writing prompt/personal exercise in being engaged in the present moment.

Conrad was one of the two poets in the short film, I Hope I'm Loud When I'm Dead (2018) by filmmaker Beatrice Gibson, also featured was poet Eileen Myles.

Conrad was a 2014 Lannan Fellow, a 2013 MacDowell Fellow, and a 2011 Pew Fellow, they also conduct workshops on (Soma)tic poetry and Ecopoetics. Their book While Standing in Line for Death won a 2018 Lambda Book Award. Amanda Paradise: Resurrect Extinct Vibration received a 2022 PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Award.

In 2019, Conrad cancelled their planned appearance at the Swiss Institute Contemporary Art New York because of the organizations support of artist Tobias Madison, who was accused of domestic violence.

Conrad teaches poetry at Columbia University and the Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam.

Personal life
Conrad identifies as Queer. In 1998, Conrad's boyfriend Mark Holmes (aka. Earth) was violently murdered in Tennessee.