Meet Rita Dove — National Poetry Month Featured Poet for April 27th
Rita Dove was the seventh Poet Laureate of the United States (1993–1995). She was the first woman, and first African American, appointed to the post since “Poet Laureate” was added in 1985 to the title “Consultant in Poetry.” She was the youngest Poet Laureate in the Library’s history. Her books include The Yellow House on the Corner (1980); Museum (1983); Thomas and Beulah, which won Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1987); Grace Notes (1989); Selected Poems (1993); Mother Love (1995); On the Bus With Rosa Parks (1999); as well as short stories, plays, essays, and a novel. Her latest book is American Smooth (2004). Born in Akron, Ohio, in 1952, Ms. Dove has used family history and social history in much of her writing. She is the Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Rita Dove holds the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities and the National Humanities Medal. Among other honors she was awarded the Duke Ellington Lifetime Achievement Award. Rita Dove is married to the German novelist Fred Viebahn; their daughter, Aviva, is an art historian.
Video:
Links:
Rita Dove Interviewed by Robert McDowell (PDF)
Rita Dove Interviewed by Camille Dungy (PDF)
Rita Dove Interviewed in Modern American Poetry
“The Shape of Her Dreaming — Rita Dove Writes a Poem” — Article exploring the creative process, as exemplified in Rita Dove’s poetry, by Walter Harrington.
Poems On-Line:
On this next set of links, the poem appears a ways down the screen once you get there. Weird layout. But keep scrolling, they’re there.
