She was the state's second laureate, appointed by Governor Mark Dayton in August, 2011 to succeed Robert Bly.

Sutphen is professor emerita of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.

[1] Sutphen was raised in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, and currently resides in the city of Chaska.

Her first book of poetry, Straight Out of View (Beacon Press, 1995), won the Barnard New Women's Poets Prize.

Press, 2000), was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award, and her third, Naming the Stars (2004), also from Holy Cow!