Chanda Feldman

Chanda Feldman is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin College, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Cornell University (2003) and a BA from the University of Chicago (1995). Her creative and scholarly work focuses on poetry exploring racial justice, cultural identity, and historical narratives, with notable publications in journals like Cincinnati Review, Southern Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review. She has been awarded prestigious fellowships including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship and the Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. Feldman teaches courses such as Documentary Poetics and Poetry: Travel, Mobility, and Movement, and serves as a manuscript reader for the Virginia Quarterly Review. Her recent creative output includes poems featured in Harvard Review, EPOCH, and The Slowdown podcast. She has presented at major literary conferences and residency programs, including the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and the Loghaven Artist Residency.

Education Background:

• MFA in Poetry, Cornell University, 2003
• BA, University of Chicago, 1995

Research Interests: Feldman’s work interrogates intersections of race, language, and global belonging through poetic form. She explores themes of diaspora, historical memory, and cultural hybridity in both her creative and pedagogical practices. Her poetry frequently engages with visual art, as seen in her analysis of Richmond Barthé’s sculptures in the Allen Art Museum collection. She advocates for equity in literary spaces through panel discussions on labor dynamics in publishing and racial justice in poetry.

Awards and Recognition:

• Recipient of Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award (2022)
• Selected for Loghaven Artist Residency (2022) among 900+ applicants
• Poem included in Best American Poetry 2021 curated by Tracy K. Smith

Teaching and Advising: While no formal advisees are listed, Feldman mentors students through her creative writing courses and workshops. Her pedagogical approach emphasizes interdisciplinary connections between poetry and other art forms. She has developed innovative courses like Documentary Poetics, blending narrative techniques with archival research.

Professional Affiliations: Active in literary communities, Feldman has presented at AWP conferences, participated in the Cave Canem Foundation, and contributed to panels on racial justice in Jewish poetry. Her editorial work bridges academic publishing and literary arts, reflecting her dual expertise in creative writing and scholarly critique.