Derek Sheffield's poems have appeared widely in literary magazines and journals such as Poetry , The Georgia Review, Orion , Ecotone , Swink , Hayden's Ferry Review , The Grove Review, Lyric, Margie, Puerto del Sol, Poet Lore, Poetry Northwest, Passages North, Terrain.org and  The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review . 

He was awarded North American Review's James Hearst Poetry Award judged by Li-Young Lee and the inaugural Sparrow Prize in Poetry sponsored by The LBJ:  Avian Life, Literary Arts.

His chapbook, A Revised Account of the West (2008), won the inaugural Hazel Lipa Chapbook Award sponsored by Flyway at Iowa State University.

Since 2008, his full-length manuscript, Black Stems, Red Blossoms, has been a finalist for the Brittingham Prize, the May Swenson Poetry Award, the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, and the Crab Orchard Review First Book Award, and a semi-finalist for the Walt Whitman Award.

He has received grants from Artist Trust and the Seattle Music & Arts Commission.

"After the Ashes: Writing from Mount St. Helens Field Residencies."  Western Literature Association. Prescott, AZ. Oct. 2010. 

"Smoke and Mirrors: The Magic of Duality in Poetry." WCCHA, Longview, WA. October 2009.

Panelist Presentation. “Salmon & Sage: A Reading and Talk by Northwest Writers.” Western Literature Association. Tacoma, WA. October 2007.

“Marked by a Place: Writing the Local into the Classic.” Bernheim  Arboretum and Research Forest. October 2007.

“Science as Muse.” Write in the Woods. Shelton, WA, May 2007.

“Science as Muse.” Burning Word. Washington Poets Association.  Whidbey Is., WA, April 2007.

“Memory as Muse,” Olympia Poetry Network. Paul Gillie Memorial Workshop. Olympia, WA, Feb. 2007.

“Science as Muse.” Write on the Sound. Edmonds, WA. 2006.

Writer in Residence. Mount St. Helens. 2010.

Advisory Board Member, University of Washington Certificate in Editing Program. 2009 - present.

Writer in Residence. Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest. 2007.

Judge. Artist Trust GAP Grant. 2007.

Editor. Creative Nonfiction. The Seattle Review. 2000 - 2006.

Coordinator. Kevin Miller/Wenatchee Valley College Reading Series. 1999 - present.

Chair. Sustainability Task Force. Wenatchee Valley College. 2005.

Advisor. Mirror Northwest. WVC Literary Journal. 1999 - present.

Panelist Judge. Artist Trust Fellowship. 2001.

Coordinating Editor. The Seattle Review. 1998 - 1999.

Assistant Fiction Editor. The Seattle Review. 1997 - 1998.

dsheffield@wvc.edu

Courses Web Site

Kevin Miller Visiting Writers

Mirror Northwest

Creative Writing in the Wenatchee Valley