Abe Louise Young

Abe Louise Young (1976- ) is an American poet and activist. Her work deals with subjects from war to lesbian sexuality to the human rights of children. Her poems are published and anthologized widely, and she has been awarded numerous prizes including the 2005 Nell Altizer Prize from the Hawaii Review and the Anne Bradstreet Prize from the Academy of American Poets.

As an activist poet, Young "engages members of different communities in writing personal stories for social change." See, for example, her work with students who have parents deployed in Iraq, , and an interview about teaching writing to young people.

Hip Deep: Opinion, Essays, and Vision from American Youth (Next Generation Press [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?ATH=Abe+Louise+Young&z=y], 2006) is an anthology edited by Young. Of the book, Cary Clack of the San-Antonio Express News writes, "The red paperback is filled with more than four dozen previously published or recorded poems, essays and reportage of 13-to 19-year-olds from across the nation....To read the book, as I did in one sitting, isn't just to marvel at the insights, experiences and resiliency of these teenagers and to get a glimpse into their lives, but to also be reminded of the importance of programs that encourage children and teenagers to write."

Young is also the founder of Alive in Truth www.aliveintruth.org, an oral history project preserving the stories of Katrina survivors from the city of New Orleans, LA.
The Austin Chronicle writes, "Contrary to standard time- and space-constrained media coverage, Alive in Truth is a thorough, big-picture exploration of the toll of one of America's worst natural disasters through the eyes of its victims – an invaluable historical tool."
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Awards/BestOfAustin_Category?seentheform1&BOACategoryPolitics%20%26%20Personalities&Year2005&PollCritics

Her papers and poetry drafts are archived as part of the Sophia Smith Collection, an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. .

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