Charles Coe, poet

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Charles Coe is poet, prose writer, teacher of writing and a musician (vocals and didgeridoo) who has lived in the Boston area since 1975. After eighteen years, Coe retired in the spring of 2015 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the state agency that funds arts and culture, and now spends his time writing, teaching writing, and making music.

Coe has written two books of poetry: All Sins Forgiven: Poems for my Parents and Picnic on the Moon both published by Leapfrog Press. He has written "Spin Cycles," a novella published by Gemma Media. His poem “Fortress” was the basis of "Peach Pie," a short film by filmmaker Roberto Mighty that has been shown in film festivals nationwide.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded Coe a fellowship in poetry, and he was selected by the Associates of the Boston Public Library as a “Boston Literary Light in 2014.” Coe is currently an Artist Fellow for the St. Botolph Club, an organization that supports arts and the humanities in Greater Boston and spent 2017 as an Artist-in-Residence for the city of Boston.

Teaching poetry and prose is a special interest for Coe. He teaches in a wide variety of settings, including grade schools, high schools, colleges, writing conferences, and workshops. He served as poet-in-residence at Wheaton College and at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, and has taught in Dingle, Ireland for the Bay Path University MFA Abroad program. Charles Coe is also an adjunct professor of English at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, teaching poetry and non fiction in the low-residency MFA program.