Gabrielle Bates
American writer and visual artist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gabrielle Bates (born 1991) is an American writer and visual artist from Birmingham, Alabama, based in Seattle.[7][8] Her debut poetry collection, Judas Goat (2023), was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.[9] The collection has been reviewed for its focus on human and nonhuman animal encounters.[10]
Gabrielle Bates | |
|---|---|
Bates reading at an event in 2023 | |
| Born | 1991 (age 34–35)[1] |
| Occupation |
|
| Language | English |
| Education | BA in English (creative writing), 2013 MFA in creative writing, 2016 |
| Alma mater | Auburn University University of Washington |
| Genre |
|
| Notable works | Judas Goat "For Louise Glück"[2] |
| Notable awards |
|
| Spouse |
Andrew Stahlman (m. 2014) |
| Website | |
| www | |
Life and education
Bates, who is a Scorpio,[11] was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.[12] 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.[13]
Bates is the daughter of the professional photographer Liesa Cole. In 2014, she married Andrew Stahlman, whom she met while at Auburn.[6]
Career
Based in Seattle, Bates has worked for Open Books: A Poem Emporium as a social media manager and cohosts the podcast The Poet Salon with Lue Hughes and Dujie Tahat.[14][15] She has taught through Hugo House, the Rosenbach Museum, Tin House Writers' Workshops, and the University of Washington Study Abroad Rome Program.[16][17]
Her work has appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.[18] She has received awards and scholarships including the Gregory Djanikian Scholarship in Poetry from The Adroit Journal in 2019.[5] In 2022, she was a finalist for a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship.[4]
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.[19] The book was also included in NPR's "Books We Love: Best Books of 2023".[20] A UK and Ireland edition of Judas Goat was published by the87press in October 2025.[21]
Before her debut collection, Bates published the chapbook This Afternoon We are All Arachnes as a limited-edition poetry-comic accordion booklet with Book Arts in 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 in 2024.[18]
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.[22] As of 2025, Bates was also a visiting writer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.[23]
Reception
At the AWP 2023 conference, Bates sold out copies of Judas Goat at the Brooklyn Poets booth on the first day.[24] The collection was also included in Electric Literature's "Best Poetry Collections of 2023" and Book Riot's "12 of the Best Poetry Collections from 2023".[25][26] BuzzFeed included it in a list of new and upcoming poetry collections and wrote that the book "wrestles with motherhood and memory and the unfixed boundaries of what makes a place — or a person — feel like home."[27]
Writing in Only Poems, Andreea Ceplinschi said the poems focus "on fragility and forced transformations" following transformative events and praised the way the collection explores betrayal from multiple angles.[28] Shannan Mann wrote that the collection leaves the reader "wanting to re-read".[29] An Autostraddle review stated that "Bates writes with such precision it's almost ghastly."[30] The book was also named a "Most-Anticipated Book of Winter" by Vulture.[31]
Bates's poem "The Dog", the opening poem of Judas Goat, first appeared in The Offing in 2019 and later appeared in Poetry Daily.[32][33] Reviewers described the poem as "stunning" and "gut-punching".[34][35] Bates said the poem was "difficult" to place in the book,[36] and the Mid-American Review blog called it "shocking" for "its unforgiving portrayal of the violence we cause."[37] Writing for Only Poems, Ceplinschi called it "[t]he highlight of th[e] collection".[28] Anthony Domestico described Bates as Brigit Pegeen Kelly's "poetic daughter" after reading Judas Goat.[38] Writing for the Chicago Review of Books, Mandana Chaffa called the collection "a noteworthy debut, and confirmation of Bates's talent, heart and place in contemporary poetry."[39]
The Dawn Review praised Bates's "ability to capture seemingly uncontrollable things", noting the book as "clenched like a fist around an egg."[40]
Books
- This Afternoon We are All Arachnes (Book Arts, 2017)
- Judas Goat (US: Tin House, 2023; UK: the87press, 2025)[18]
- Before your bed was my bed / Antes de que tu cama fuese mi cama (bilingual edition; translated by Bárbara Bianchi Ceballos) (Desperate Literature, 2024)
Awards
- 2015: Gigantic Sequins Poetry Comic Contest winner, for "As When Gone Wildabouting"[41]
- 2019: The Gregory Djanikian Scholars Program (scholar)[5]
- 2022: Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship (finalist)[4]