Gabrielle Bates

Gabrielle Bates
Bates reading at an event in 2023
Born1991 (age 34–35)[1]
OccupationWriter, tutor and visual artist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
EducationBA in English (Creative Writing), 2013
MFA in Creative Writing, 2016
Alma materAuburn University
University of Washington
GenrePoetry
Visual arts
Creative nonfiction
Notable worksJudas Goat
"For Louise Glück"
Notable awards
Spouse
Andrew Stahlman
​
(m. 2014)​
[5]
Website
www.gabriellebat.es/

Gabrielle Bates is an American writer and visual artist from Birmingham, Alabama, known for her poetry comics.[6] Her debut poetry collection Judas Goat (Tin House, 2023) was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.[7] The collection has been reviewed for its focus on human and nonhuman animal encounters.[8] Bates lives in Seattle.

Life and education

Bates, who is a Scorpio,[9] was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.[10] She earned a BA in English (creative writing) from Auburn University in 2013 and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington in 2016.[11]

Bates is the daughter of the professional photographer Liesa Cole. On April 12, 2014, Bates married Andrew Stahlman, whom she met while at Auburn.[5]

Career

Bates lives in Seattle, where she has worked for Open Books: A Poem Emporium as a social media manager,[12] and cohosts the podcast The Poet Salon.[13] She has taught through Hugo House, the Rosenbach Museum, Tin House Writers' Workshops, and the University of Washington Study Abroad Rome Program.[14][15]

Her work has appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.[16] She has received awards and scholarships including the Adroit Journal Gregory Djanikian Scholarship in Poetry (2019).[4] In 2022, she was a finalist for a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship.[3]

Judas Goat was published by Tin House in 2023. In The New York Times column "The Shortlist", Stephanie Burt discussed the collection's relationship to fairy tales.[17] The book was also included in NPR's "Books We Love: Best Books of 2023".[18] A UK/Ireland edition of Judas Goat was published by the87press in October 2025.[19]

Before her debut, Bates published a chapbook, This Afternoon We are All Arachnes, with Book Arts as a limited-edition poetry-comic accordion booklet (2017). Another chapbook, Before your bed was my bed / Antes de que tu cama fuese mi cama, was published as a bilingual edition translated by Bárbara Bianchi Ceballos (Desperate Literature, 2024).[16]

In January 2025, her essay on Brigit Pegeen Kelly's collection Song (1995), titled "The Verberating World", was published as part of West Branch's "This Long Winding Line: A Poetry Retrospective", edited by Shara Lessley.[20] As of 2025, Bates was also a visiting writer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.[21]

Reception

Bates sold out of copies of the collection at the Brooklyn Poets booth on the first day of AWP 2023".[22] The debut was also included in Electric Lit's "Best Poetry Collections of 2023"[23] and Book Riot's "12 of the Best Poetry Collections from 2023".[24] BuzzFeed, for their list of "13 New And Upcoming Poetry Collections To Pick Up If You're Trying To Get Into Poetry", wrote that "Bates's debut collection wrestles with motherhood and memory and the unfixed boundaries of what makes a place — or a person — feel like home."[25] Reviews in Only Poems noted the poems as focussing "on fragility and forced transformations" following transformative events,[26] making the fact that the "central theme of betrayal is explored" from all angles a point to be praised. Shannan Mann further called Judas Goat a collection you're "left wanting to re-read".[27] Another review said that "Bates writes with such precision it's almost ghastly."[28] It was the "Most-Anticipated Book of Winter" from Vulture.[29]

Bates's "stunning",[30] "gut-punching"[31] opener to Judas Goat, the poem titled 'The Dog', which first appeared in The Offing in 2019,[32] appeared on Poetry Daily over three years later.[33] The poem, which Bates noted as being "difficult" to place in the book,[34] was called "shocking" by the Mid-American Review Blog for "its unforgiving portrayal of the violence we cause."[35] Writing for Only Poems, Andreea Ceplinschi called the poem "[t]he highlight of th[e] collection".[26] On reading Judas Goat, Anthony Domestico called her Brigit Pegeen Kelly's "poetic daughter".[36] Mandana Chaffa, writing for the Chicago Review of Books, placed the collection as "a noteworthy debut, and confirmation of Bates's talent, heart and place in contemporary poetry."[37]

The Dawn Review praised "Bates's ability to capture seemingly uncontrollable things", noting the book as "clenched like a fist around an egg."[38]

Books

  • This Afternoon We are All Arachnes (Book Arts, 2017)
  • Judas Goat (US: Tin House, 2023; UK: the87press, 2025)[16]
  • Before your bed was my bed / Antes de que tu cama fuese mi cama (bilingual edition, trans. by Bárbara Bianchi Ceballos) (Desperate Literature, 2024)

Awards

Fellowships

  • 2014: Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets Fellowship[16]
  • 2017: June Dodge Fellowship, Mineral School Artist Residency[40]
  • 2019: Jack Straw Writers Fellowship[41]

References

  1. ^ "Judas Goat". The Seattle Public Library (BiblioCommons). Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  2. ^ "2024 Washington State Book Award Winners & Finalists, Adult Categories". Whatcom County Library System. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c "Poetry Foundation Announces the 2022 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows". Poetry Foundation. September 22, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c LaBerge, Peter (March 19, 2019). "Announcing The Adroit Journal's 2019 Djanikian Scholars!". The Adroit Journal. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  5. ^ a b McAlister, Laura (July 14, 2015). "A barnyard wedding: College sweethearts tie the knot at J&D Farms in Southside, Ala". Birmingham Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
  6. ^ "Art in Conversation: Gabrielle Bates (ep. 1)". Fields Magazine. September 29, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  7. ^ "2024 Washington State Book Award Winners & Finalists, Adult Categories". Whatcom County Library System. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  8. ^ Ok, Cindy Juyoung. "Judas Goat by Gabrielle Bates". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  9. ^ Rogers, Sarah (Lyn) (February 18, 2025). "10 Books with Scorpio and Eighth House Energy". Electric Literature. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
  10. ^ Thompson, Jay Aquinas. "A Conversation with Gabrielle Bates". The Adroit Journal. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  11. ^ "English alumna publishes second poem in The New Yorker". Auburn University. May 26, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  12. ^ Vansynghel, Margo (March 31, 2022). "Seattle's Open Books finds new home in Pioneer Square". Cascade PBS. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  13. ^ Mohammed, Syma (July 26, 2023). "A look inside Seattle's flourishing poetry scene". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  14. ^ "Gabrielle Bates". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  15. ^ "Brooklyn Poets Book Launch: Gabrielle Bates". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d "Publications & awards". Gabrielle Bates. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  17. ^ Burt, Stephanie (March 7, 2023). "The Shortlist: From Newcomers and Veterans, Four New Poetry Books Worth Your Time". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  18. ^ "Books We Love". NPR. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  19. ^ "Gabrielle Bates launches Judas Goat at Topping & Co Edinburgh (with Jessica Widner)". the87press. Retrieved January 2, 2026.
  20. ^ Lessley, Shara (January 14, 2025). "This Long Winding Line: A Poetry Retrospective - Brigit Pegeen Kelly's SONG (1995)". West Branch. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
  21. ^ "Gabrielle Bates". English: College of Arts and Sciences. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. October 15, 2025. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
  22. ^ Vansynghel, Margo (March 17, 2023). "How the AWP writers conference in Seattle generated an estimated $15M". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  23. ^ "Electric Lit's Best Poetry Collections of 2023". Electric Literature. November 28, 2023. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  24. ^ Pan, Connie (December 22, 2023). "12 of the Best Poetry Collections from 2023". Book Riot. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  25. ^ Sackton, Laura (April 1, 2023). "13 New And Upcoming Poetry Collections To Pick Up If You're Trying To Get Into Poetry". BuzzFeed. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  26. ^ a b Ceplinschi, Andreea (October 30, 2024). "7 Poetry Collections to Read After Reading About Another School Shooting". ONLY POEMS. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  27. ^ Mann, Shannan (January 1, 2024). "A Poetry Collection for Every Kind of New Year's Resolution Maker". ONLY POEMS. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  28. ^ ""Judas Goat" by Gabrielle Bates Made Me Start Writing Again". autostraddle. ForThem. June 24, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2026.
  29. ^ ""A stunner... haunted... profound"". Auburn University College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  30. ^ Smith, Michelle R. (April 8, 2024). "NaPoWriMo Poetry Prompt #7". Medium. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  31. ^ Pan, Connie (March 20, 2023). "Reflecting on Winter's Poetry". Book Riot. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  32. ^ Bates, Gabrielle (September 4, 2019). "The Dog". The Offing. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  33. ^ Bates, Gabrielle (January 24, 2023). "The Dog". Poetry Daily. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  34. ^ Jones, I.S. "Legacy Suite #8". Palette Poetry. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  35. ^ "An Interview with Gabrielle Bates". Mid-American Review Blog. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  36. ^ Domestico, Anthony (December 16, 2023). "The Year in Books: My top choices of 2023". Commonweal Magazine. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  37. ^ "The Price of Survival in "Judas Goat"". Chicago Review of Books. January 25, 2023. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  38. ^ Wang, Evan; Yan, Ziyi (April 15, 2023). "A Review of Gabrielle Bates's "Judas Goat"". The Dawn Review. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  39. ^ "2015 Winter Contest Series: Poetry Comics & Flash Non-Fiction Contests". Gigantic Sequins. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  40. ^ "2017 Residents Announced!". Mineral School. April 26, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  41. ^ "2019 Jack Straw Writers Program". Jack Straw Cultural Center. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
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