About
Meg Muthupandiyan is an environmental writer and public humanities artist. When not in the classroom, she can generally be found sauntering—journeying and journaling through cities, forests, mountain ranges, and other land communities on foot.
Her poetry, essays, poetry films and illustrations are born from a desire to de-objectify nature, to celebrate the realm of wilderness as a place of sensual and divine encounter.
Passionate about creating space for people to contemplate art, poetry, and the natural world, both in and beyond the classroom, Meg founded the Poetry in the Parks public humanities project (poetryintheparks.org) in 2019. The project explores the sacred beauty of our land communities through collaboratively created poetry films.
She has published two volumes of poetry. Of the Earth and Other Desires (League of Minnesota Press, 2023) and Forty Days in the Wilderness, Wandering (Finishing Line Press, 2021).
Select Recent Publications
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2024) Of the Earth and Other Desires: A Poet’s Phenology. League of Minnesota Press.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2023) “Bosco Sacro.” In Rooted Two: The Best Arboreal Non-Fiction. Editor Josh McIven. San Francisco: Outpost19.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2023) Muthupandiyan MM. Pilgrim Reverence as a Pathway to Ecological Conversion: An Analysis of Phenomenological Journaling along the Way. Religions. 2023; 14(3):378. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030378
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2021) Forty Days in the Wilderness, Wandering. Finishing Line Press.
Select Recent Presentations
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2024, July 2). “The Immortal Genius of Harry Bailey: Pilgrim Storytelling as Enterprise and Transformative Social Practice.” [Conference Presentation] Sacred Journeys 11th Annual Conference, Kyoto Japan.
Muthupandiyan, M. M . (2024, June 7) “Writing Of the Earth and Other Desires: Using the Tools of Citizen Science to Write Poetry.” [Featured Lecture}. Federation of States Poetry Societies Annual Conference, Roswell GA.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2023, November 2)” Sellos of Silence: Acoustic Ecology as Pilgrim Practice.” [Conference Presentation] Institute for Pilgrimage Studies Annual Conference at William and Mary. Williamsburg, VA.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2022, July 7). Presenter. “Laudato ‘Si and Universal Communion: Pilgrimage in the Modern Age.” [Conference Presentation] Sacred Journeys 9th Annual Conference. Piran, Slovenia.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2022, April 21) Presenter. “The Spell of the Sensuous within Pilgrimage: How Pilgrim Culture Fosters Pilgrims’ Relational Ontology with the Earth” [Conference Presentation] Mapping Bodies Conference: The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place. Loyola University Chicago:
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2021, July 25) “Be Thankful to the Day: Using Poetry to Cultivate Quiet Memory.” [Conference Presentation] The American Pilgrims on the Camino Celebration at St. Mary’s, Notre Dame, IN.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2021, March 15-18) “’Attention is the Beginning of Devotion”: How an Open Access Public Humanities Project in Our Parks Can Serve as a Platform for Climate Justice Work.” [Poster Presentation] Loyola Climate Change Conference, Chicago IL.
Muthupandiyan, M. M. (2021, January 17). “Laudato Si’ and Ecological Conversion.” [Conference Presentation] The Institute of Pilgrimage Studies at the College of William and Mary. Williamsburg, VA.
Awards
Of the Earth and Other Desires was awarded the John Rezmerski Manuscript Prize by the League of Minnesota Poets in November, 2023.
Meg was named a George Greenia Pilgrimage Fellow by the Institute of Pilgrimage Studies at William and Mary in November 2023.
“Marlin Johnson: Keeper of Deep Time” was selected as a Featured Short Film for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City, October 2023.
Meg was named an ARTServancy Fellow by the ARTServancy Program at Gallery 224 in Port Washington, October 2022.
Meg’s chapbook manuscript “It, You, Thou,” was selected as a semi-finalist for the 2022 Wolfson Press Poetry Prize in April 2022.
Meg’s poetry film “I Sing the Body Electric” was awarded Best Short Poetry Film at the Make Art Not War Short Film Festival in Porto, Portugal, October 2021.
Education
- 2008 – Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – English Literature, Marquette University
- 2002 – Master of Arts (M.A.) – English and American Literature, Marquette University
- 1998 – Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) – Creative Writing and Philosophy, St. Norbert College