Nan Fry
Nancy Mallet Fry (August 6, 1945-September 23, 2016) was born in Missouri and grew up in Connecticut. She earned a bachelor of arts at Wells College and a PhD in Medieval Studies at Yale University before settling in the greater DC area. She taught at The Writer’s Center, and in the Academic Studies Program at the Corcoran College of Art + Design from 1983 through 2005.
Fry authored one full-length book of poetry, Relearning the Dark (Washington Writers Publishing House, 1991) and a chapbook of riddle poems translated from Anglo-Saxon, Say What I Am Called (Sibyl-Child, 1988). Her poems appeared on posters in the transit systems of DC, Baltimore, and Ft. Collins, Colorado as part of the Poetry Society of America’s “Poetry in Motion” Program, on a Bethesda Poetry Bench Project, and in numerous anthologies, including Cabin Fever: Poets at Joaquin Miller’s Cabin, Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast, The Beastly Bride, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Faery Reel, Rye Bread: Women Poets Rising, Hungry As We Are: An Anthology of Washington Area Poets, and The Poet’s Cookbook: Recipes from Germany. She also wrote occasional fiction; a story of hers was included in the anthology Gravity Dancers. In addition, her work was republished in textbooks, including The Creative Process and Discovering Literature.
Fry received an EdPress Award for excellence in educational journalism, and an Individual Artist’s Award from the Maryland State Arts Council. For over ten years, she coordinated a poetry reading series at Westmoreland Church in Bethesda, Maryland.