Patricia Dobler

Patricia Dobler (1939–2004) was an American poet.

Life
Born Patricia Averdick in Middletown, Ohio, she completed her BA in political science at St. Xavier College in Chicago, then married the writer Bruce Dobler in 1961. She moved, as the spouse of a writer and professor, to Iowa City; Exeter, New Hampshire; Putney, Vermont; Anchorage, Alaska; Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and finally Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There she herself began writing after raising two daughters, Stephanie and Lisa. She completed her M.F.A. at the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied poetry with Ed Ochester, Lynn Emanuel, and Louis Simpson.

Dobler joined the faculty of Carlow University in 1986, and directed its Women's Creative Writing Center until her death. She was also a popular leader of Carlow's non-degree writing workshop, Madwomen in the Attic.

She died July 24, 2004 at her home in Pittsburgh. She is interred in the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in the city's Greenfield and Hazelwood neighborhoods.

Her final book, Collected Poems, was published posthumously by Autumn House Press in 2005.

Recognition
In 1986, poet Maxine Kumin selected Dobler's poetry collection Talking to Strangersas the winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Publications

 * Collected Poems, poetry (Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2005)
 * UXB, poetry (Pittsburgh: Mill Hunk Books, 1991)
 * Talking To Strangers, poetry (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986)
 * Forget Your Life, poetry chapbook (Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 1982)