Ellen Bass

Bass grew up in Pleasantville, New Jersey, where her parents owned a liquor store.^[2] Her family later moved to Ventnor City, New Jersey, where she graduated from Atlantic City High School.^[3] She attended Goucher College, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1968 with a bachelor's degree. She pursued a master's degree in creative writing at Boston University, where she studied with Anne Sexton, and graduated in 1970.

From 1970 to 1974, Bass worked at Project Place, a social service center in Boston.^[4]

She co-wrote the best-selling The Courage to Heal with Laura Davis about healing from childhood sexual abuse,^[5] as well as developing training seminars for professionals,^[6] offering workshops for survivors,^[1] and lecturing to mental health professionals nationally and internationally.^[7] The book has been widely criticized; neither Bass nor Davis have any formal training in psychotherapy or psychiatry, and critics argue that the book's scientifically unsound therapeutic advice exacerbated the moral panic over satanic ritual abuse.^[8][9] She is a co-founder of the Survivors Healing Center in Santa Cruz, California, a non-profit organization offering services to survivors of child sexual abuse.^[10]

Bass teaches at the low-residency Master of Fine Arts program at Pacific University in Oregon.^[11][12] She has taught workshops in Santa Cruz, California^[2] since she moved there in 1974 as well as nationally.^[13] In 2013, she founded the Poetry Program at the Salinas Valley State Prison, which offers a weekly workshop to incarcerated men.^[14][15][16] In 2014, she also founded the Santa Cruz Poetry Project, which offers weekly workshops to people incarcerated in Santa Cruz County jails.^[17][18]

Bass has written poetry books including Indigo (2020), which was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize,^[19] a Publishing Triangle Award,^[20] and a Northern California Book Award;^[21] Like a Beggar (2014), which was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize,^[22] a Publishing Triangle Award,^[23] the Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award,^[24] the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry,^[25] and a Northern California Book Award;^[26] The Human Line (2007); and Mules of Love (2002), which won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry.^[27] Her poems have been published widely in journals and anthologies, including The New Yorker,^[28] The American Poetry Review,^[29] The Kenyon Review,^[30] and Ploughshares.^[31]

Her nonfiction books include I Never Told Anyone (co-edited with Louise Thornton, HarperCollins, 1983);^[32] Free Your Mind (written with Kate Kaufman, HarperCollins, 1996);^[33] and The Courage to Heal (HarperCollins, 1988).^[34][35] They have been translated into twelve languages.^[4]

In 2017, Bass was elected as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and served until 2022.^[12]

Bass was named the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission Artist of the Year in 2019.^[36]

Bass lives in Santa Cruz with her wife, Janet Bryer.^[1] She has two children.^[37]

Bass was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati,^[38] the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize,^[38] The Missouri Review'’s Larry Levis Prize,^[39] the Greensboro Review Poetry Prize,^[40] the New Letters Poetry Prize,^[41] the Chautauqua Literary Journal Prize for Poetry,^[42] and four Pushcart Prizes (2003, 2015, 2017).^{[citation needed]} She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation,^[43] the National Endowment for the Arts,^[38] and the California Arts Council.^[40]

Indigo (2020) was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize,^[19] a Publishing Triangle Award,^[20] and a Northern California Book Award.^[21] Like a Beggar (2014) was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize,^[22] a Publishing Triangle Award,^[23] the Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award,^[24] the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry,^[25] and a Northern California Book Award.^[26] The Human Line (2007) was named among the notable books of 2007 in the poetry section by the San Francisco Chronicle.^[44] Mules of Love (2002) won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry.^[27][40]

Poetry

• I'm not your laughing daughter. University of Massachusetts Press. 1973. ISBN 9780870231285.
• Bass, Ellen (1973). No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women. Co-edited with Florence Howe. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385025539.
• Of Separateness and Merging. Autumn Press. 1977. ISBN 978-0394734309.
• For Earthly Survival. Moving Parts Press. 1980.
• Our Stunning Harvest. New Society Publishers. 1984. ISBN 978-0865710535.
• Mules of Love. BOA Editions. 2002. ISBN 9781929918225.
• The Human Line. Copper Canyon Press. 2007. ISBN 9781556592553.
• Like A Beggar. Copper Canyon Press. 2014. ISBN 9781556594649.
• Indigo. Copper Canyon Press. 2020. ISBN 9781556595752.

Nonfiction

• Bass, Ellen (1991) [1983]. I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. Co-authored with Louise Thornton and others. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060965730.
• Bass, Ellen (2008) [1988]. The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. Co-authored with Laura Davis. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780061284335.
• Bass, Ellen (2003) [1993]. Beginning to Heal: A First Book for Men and Women Who Were Sexually Abused as Children. Co-authored with Laura Davis. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780062270597.
• Bass, Ellen (1996). Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth—and Their Allies. Co-authored with Kate Kaufman. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060951047.

Children's books

• I Like You to Make Jokes with Me, But I Don't Want You to Touch Me. Lollipop Power Books/Carolina Wren Press. 1993 [1981]. ISBN 9780914996279.