Image of Carrie Fountain
Born and raised in Mesilla, New Mexico, poet Carrie Fountain earned a BA at New Mexico State University and an MFA at the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.
 
Fountain’s poems often use narrative to explore the tug of the unseen on the visible fabric of our days. In a 2010 interview with Brian Brodeur for his blog How A Poem Happens, Fountain stated, “To me, whether a poem is factual or autobiographical is unimportant because that condition usually has nothing to do with whether the poem is successful or not or whether the poem touches on some truth (which is of far greater importance than fact) or not. […] I think the tendency to assume an autobiography while reading a poem has to do with the intimate nature of poetry, especially narrative poetry. The yielding voice.” Fountain’s debut collection of poems, Burn Lake (2010), was chosen by Natasha Trethewey for the National Poetry Series.
 
Her honors include the Marlboro Poetry Prize, Austin Library Foundation’s Award for Literary Excellence, a residency with the Frank Waters Foundation, and Swink magazine’s Award for Emerging Writers.
 
She has taught at St. Edward’s University, and lives in Austin.