Stephen Gardner

Stephen Gardner, a native of Columbia, SC, received his B.A. and M.A. in English from USC Columbia, where he studied creative writing with George Garrett and Ennis Rees. He earned the Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from Oklahoma State University, where he studied with Gordon Weaver. A member of the USC Aiken faculty beginning in 1972, he served for fifteen years in academic administration, lastly as Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Twice holding the G. L. Toole Chair, he retired in 2008, and was then the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English. His poems, stories, essays, and scholarship have appeared widely in such venues as Southern Review, Poetry Northwest, New Orleans Review, Kansas Quarterly, California Quarterly, The Connecticut Review, and The Texas Review. He was formerly editor of kudzu; and for over a decade he was editor and publisher of The Devil's Millhopper magazine and TDM Press. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Aiken Center for the Arts and as former president of the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors. His first collection of poems, This Book Belongs to Eva, was published in 1996. With William Wright, he was co-editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology: South Carolina (Texas Review Press 2008) and The Southern Poetry Anthology: Mississisppi (Texas Review Press 2009). His most recent book is Taking the Switchback (Texas Review Press 2009). Stephen Gardner passed away in November of 2009.