About Me | Author
Neil Aitken, PhD, MFA, MLIS
Neil Aitken is the author of two books of poetry, Babbage’s Dream, a semi-finalist for the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize and The Lost Country of Sight, which won the Philip Levine Prize and was finalist for the May Swenson Prize. His poetry chapbook, Leviathan, was awarded an Elgin Prize for Sci Fi Poetry. Working with Ming Di, he co-translated The Book of Cranes: Selected Poems of Zang Di, 1984-2014, as well as over 50 other contemporary Chinese poems. He is the librettist for two operas composed by Juhi Bansal: Edge of a Dream (LA Opera) and Star Singer (Beth Morrison Productions). Aitken is also the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review (2006-2021) and the host of The Lit Fantastic, a podcast about authors and their obsessions. A former computer programmer, Aitken left his role in the games industry to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside and later, a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing at the University of Southern California. He recently completed an MLIS at the University of British Columbia.
His poems have appeared in The Adroit Journal, American Literary Review, The Collagist, Crab Orchard Review, Lantern Review, Ninth Letter, The Normal School, Radar Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, and Tupelo Quarterly.
With Dao Strom, he co-directs De-Canon: A Visibility Project, a web resource examining and interrogating the intersections of race, literature, canon-making, education, and publishing.
Previous degrees include a Ph.D. in Literature & Creative Writing (USC), a multi-genre MFA in Creative Writing (UC Riverside), and a BS in Computer Science (BYU). I have also taken DHSI courses on games & pedagogy, digital humanities for librarians, and GIS for digital humanities.
Over the years, I have worked as a computer programmer in the children’s educational games sector, taught creative writing in both university courses and community workshops, founded and edited a literary journal (Boxcar Poetry Review, 2006-2021), created web resources for writers, hosted podcasts (The Lit Fantastic), and run a writing coaching and manuscript editing business. I am deeply invested in creating safe and engaging physical and digital spaces that foster learning, mentorship, and creativity.
I’m the author of two books of poetry: Babbage’s Dream (Sundress Publications, 2017) and The Lost Country of Sight (Anhinga Press, 2008), winner of the Philip Levine Prize. I also write literary essays, speculative fiction, poetry translation, and opera libretto.