Gary Dop
Gary Dop is the M.F.A. Director and an associate professor of English at Randolph College,in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where he lives with his wife Liz, three feisty daughters, and their dog Mississippi.
After growing up bouncing around Germany and the Midwest, Gary
received an M.A. in English from the University of Nebraska at Kearney
and an M.F.A. from the University of Nebraska, where he was
awarded the M.F.A. Award as the program's top student. His mentors
included Ted Kooser, Richard Robbins, Teri Youmans Grimm,
and the inimitable William Trowbridge.
Gary's first collection of poems FATHER, CHILD, WATER
was a bestselling poetry title with Red Hen Press in 2015, and it
sold out of its first print run of 1000 copies in less than two months.
Poet, Writer, Professor, Actor, M.F.A. Director, and Creative Consultant.
Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce
Prior to moving to Virginia, Gary lived in Minneapolis and was the Writer in Residence at North Central University, as well as a screenwriting faculty member in the University of Minnesota's MFA program.
In 2013, Gary was awarded the Great Plains Emerging Writer Prize by the 37th Annual Great Plains
Writers Conference. His poems have appeared in dozens of national and international journals,
including Prairie Schooner, New Letters, North American Review, Poetry Northwest, Rattle, Agni,
Sugar House Review, burntdistrict, Green Mountains Review, and the Poetry Foundation's syndicated newspaper column, American Life in Poetry.
One of Gary's favorite experiences has been working with the Twin Cities best organization, RAIN TAXI,
which publishes the Rain Taxi Review of Books and sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, for
which Gary returns to Minneapolis each year and serves on the event committee.
As a poet who values performance, Gary has entertained audiences at university and community
events throughout the country. In 2009, he was one of five poets to qualify for the top rated
performance poetry team in the country.
Dop is a member of the Playwrights' Center, The National Book Critics Circle, Phi Kappa Phi, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Sigma Tau Delta, Dramatists Guild of America, and AAUP.
In other modes, Gary's essays have been heard on public radio's All Things Considered, and he's written, consulted for, directed, and sold scripts for video and film projects (commercials, short films, documentaries, features, etc.), and his plays have been produced in small venues around the country.
From time to time, Gary plays around with acting, emceeing, and stand-up comedy. A while back he appeared in a short film, a few commercials, and he was named Top Comic in an evening competition at Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis.
Gary loves supporting and advocating for the arts in cities and in rural communities. For two weeks each summer for the past six years, Gary has taught creative writing to talented and gifted high school students in southcentral Nebraska. He serves on the editorial board of the funky, new Spark Wheel Press, which is making wondering things happen in Omaha, Nebraska. In addition, Gary has been regularly involved with the International English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta, and the Banfil-Locke Center for the Arts, where he was the 2011-12 Writer in Residence.