Education
B.A., University of Idaho, English and Creative Writing, 2015
Academic Programs
Biography
CMarie Fuhrman is a poet and author whose work is inspired by the Western landscape. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Camped Beneath the Dam, as well as the co-editor of two significant anthologies, Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, and Poetry and Native Voices: Indigenous Poetry, Craft, and Conversations. She has poetry and nonfiction published or forthcoming in a variety of publications, including Terrain.org, Emergence Magazine, Platform Review, Northwest Review, Yellow Medicine Review, Poetry Northwest, and various anthologies. CMarie is the director of the Elk River Writers Workshop and an award-winning columnist for the Inlander. She is the Associate Director and Poetry Director for Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing, where she teaches Nature Writing. CMarie is the host of Terra Firma, a Colorado Public Radio program. She is a former Idaho Writer in Residence and lives in the Salmon River Mountains of Idaho.
How did you discover Western?
I first came across Western when looking at MFA programs in the West, then I met and became friends with the Director of the Nature Writing Program at Western and got to know even more. I was instantly attracted to teaching here!
What are some of the highlights of your career?
Being a co-editor on the anthology, Native Voices, is decidedly one of the best projects I have every worked on. It has been monumental in giving voice to Native poets and their craft. Working with Kim Barnes at the University of Idaho is the most important thing to every happen to my writing. Without her instruction, I don’t know if I ever would have been brave enough or wise enough to take my nonfiction/memoir writing to the next level. Along with Kim, I have gotten to meet other writers whom I have long adored, such as Doug Peacock, Luis Urrea, William Kittredge, Jack Turner and so many more. Meeting them and listening to their advice has been paramount. Teaching will always be the most important thing I do–and the greatest challenge. Being asked to teach students by other instructors and students is a great honor. To join the program at Western and teach alongside other writers and educators that I admire and respect will, for the longest time, be the highlight of my literary life.
What most excites you about your field?
I think we are at the dawn of a new generation of fierce and talented Nature writers. More than ever it seems that people are taking to the page and the podium to use their voices to defend wild people and other beings. There is also a wave of Native writers that are making fantastic art. Their poems, science, and prose is fantastic and so important to the ecology of writing. I am excited to watch where all of these writers take us.
Publications (Print)
Cascadia Field Guide, Mountaineer Books, 2023
Camped Beneath the Dam, Floodgate Series, 2019
Native Voices, Tupelo Press, 2020
Publications (Digital)
Nonfiction:
Platform Review: “Lake 8” September 2020
Emergence Magazine: “Coyote Story” July 2020
Contra Viento: “Resound” Spring 2020
High Desert Journal: “Aspen” Fall 2018
High Desert Journal: “What is the West” Summer 2018:
Sustainable Play: “Hells Canyon Revival” Fall 2017
Column:
The Inlander 2019-present
Poetry:
Pictures of Poets: “Ode to the Waitress,” “Camped Beneath the Dam,” “Dear Body,” “Litany” May 2019
High Desert Journal: “Valeria” Spring 2018
Broadsided Press: “Stand” 2017
Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art: “Another Great One Slipped the Mooring” 2017
