Bush Foundation Fellowships

J. Vincent Hansen

2009 Bush Artist Fellowship
Minnesota

Career Field: Literary Arts
Secondary Field: Poetry

J. Vincent Hansen (Saint Cloud, MN) grew up on a farm east of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, and graduated from Cathedral High School in Saint Cloud in 1965. After a few months of factory work, he enlisted in the Army and served three years with the 101st Airborne Division. Afterward, he worked for seven years with the Maryknoll Fathers in East Africa doing agricultural work. He did not start writing seriously until he was about 40 years old. Hansen writes both poetry and prose, and enjoys them equally. Sometimes he thinks poems are merely essays that choose to pass through the heart on the way to the head. Hansen is a recipient of the 1990 Loft-McKnight Award for Poetry and was a finalist for a Bush Artist Fellowship in 1991. He is the author of Blessed are the Piecemakers (North Star Press, Inc.). He owns and operates Sauk River Books.