Lynn Hoggard

Dr. Lynn Hoggard is an award-winning poet, author, translator, and professor emerita from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She taught English, French, and coordinated the Humanities Program there. In 1997, she was named the MSU Hardin Professor for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service. She also served as president of the American Literary Translators Association (1997-1999) and has taught in England, France, and Mexico.

Hoggard has published eight books. These include: Nelida, her translation of Marie D'Agoult's novel about a love affair with Franz Liszt, which won the Texas Institute of Letters Translation Award in 2003. Hoggard's biography of Frank and Irina Pal, Married to Dance, tells the tale of premier ballet dancers from Europe who formed a dance company in North Texas. Other translations included that of Henri Michaux's book, Poteaux d'angle, and Paul Valery's poem Ebauche d'un serpent. After retiring from teaching, Hoggard quickly developed a following as a poet. Her prose and poetry memoir Motherland takes readers on a journey that includes civil-rights turning points, skinning squirrels, and becoming Miss Shreveport. Bushwhacking Home won the 2018 Press Women of Texas award for best book of poetry. Her 2017 poem, “Love in the Desert,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Word Fountain, and her poem “In the Garden” was nominated for a “Best of the Net” award by Bluestem. She has published more than 100 poems in peer-reviewed journals in the U.S. Her latest book, First Light: Poems of Loss and Love, speaks directly, bravely, and clearly to death and loss while the poet courageously finds her way, carrying the reader with her into a state of faith and transformation. Dedicated to her late husband and fellow poet, James Hoggard, the book is both companion and guide for those who suffer the loss of a great love and it speaks to a generation of caregivers who give their all in love to their partner or family member.

A member of the Poetry Society of Texas and the Wichita Falls Poetry Society, Hoggard continues to mentor aspiring poets and writers in many areas.