Education
University of Houston 2023-2026 (Anticipated)
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry)
College of William and Mary (2023)
Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor in Psychology, cum laude
Honors thesis in creative writing.
Other Educational Experiences
Private Study in Poetry (2020-2023)
I worked one-on-one with David Lehman, editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry and series editor for The Best American Poetry, for over two years.
Undergraduate Honors Thesis (2022-2023)
I completed an honors thesis, a chapbook of poetry, under the guidance of Henry Hart, the 17th Poet Laureate of Virginia.
Private Study in Creative Nonfiction (2021)
A six-week intensive where I worked one-on-one with New York Times Bestselling author Marya Hornbacher.
Honors and Awards
2023 Honors Thesis in Creative Writing: A Journal of Those Times
2023 The Academy of American Poets Prize, First Place
Judge’s Comments: “What I admire most in this contemplative, lacerating poem are the flashes of musical brilliance, sonic approximations of the nirvana that the speaker ends up discounting. I imagine Brigit Pegeen Kelly would have adored lines like “I have still // not touched the tip of peace unless it is in the scales / of my pit viper who is as still as a weathered stone.” — Gregg Wren
2023 Tiberius Gracchus Jones Prize for Nonfiction, Second Place
Judge’s Comments: “This braided piece was powerfully-written, thoroughly engaging, and illuminating. By showing us scenes from his apartment and communications with his therapist, Alexander sheds light on what it actually looks like to live with an eating disorder, and just how painstaking the recovery process can be. While the essay is likely publishable on its own, I hope it one day expands into a memoir—one I'd be eager to read.” —Margaret Kimball
2023 Goronwy Owen Poetry Prize, Second Place
Judge’s Comments: “Alexander Lazarus Wolff explores different forms, voices, and cadences in this group of poems with such intensity and grace. I especially admire ‘Lines Written in an Empty Room’ with its imperative and its intimacy, and how each poem feels like its own world, full of soundscape and sudden sharp images.”— Laura Bylenok
2023 Williamsburg Book Award Festival, Third Place
2022 Goronwy Owen Poetry Prize, Third Place
Judge’s Comments: “I liked this collection of poems because it demonstrates the poet is a student of the craft, and it deploys a mature use of diction. These poems express a vulnerability that resonates without drifting into sentimentality.” —Glenn North
2022 The Academy of American Poets Prize, Second Place
“I admire this poem for its ambition, duration, and candor. Moreover, the form and structure of this poem make a valuable container, able to hold the intensity of experience. This poem is deeply rich in imagery and so well balanced between the world of the mind and the world this mind encounters. This is not an easy poem to write, and yet here it is! A success.”—Alicia Mountain
2022 Poetry Society of Virginia Undergraduate Prize, First Place
Phi Theta Kappa (2019)
Editorial Experience
Assistant Poetry Editor for Gulf Coast (2024-Present)
Reader for Black Fox Literary Magazine (2023-Present)
Reading Board for Gulf Coast (2023-2024)
Poetry Editor for The Plentitudes: A Quarterly International Literary Journal (2022- Present)
Reading Board for The Plentitudes: A Quarterly International Literary Journal (2021-2022)
Teaching Experience
English 6322: Poetry Workshop, University of Houston
English 1302: Persuasive Writing, University of Houston
Poetry Workshop: Confessional Poets, Inprint Houston
Teaching Assistant for English 1302: Persuasive Writing, University of Houston
Teaching Assistant for English 1301: Rhetorical Writing, University of Houston
Readings and Presentations
Gulf Coast Reading Series, 2024
Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, 2024
Reading University of Houston, 2023
Literary Awards Reading, College of William & Mary, 2023
Poetry Society of Virginia Collected Winning Poems reading, 2023
Literary Awards Reading, College of William & Mary, 2022