“Living
in America: Voices and Visions”
Marilyn
Nelson
Reading Thursday, March 6, 2003
Click here to hear the poet and for more biographical information
Currently the Poet Laureate of Connecticut and a longtime professor of English at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, Marilyn Nelson is the author of seven volumes of poetry, four chapbooks, as well as anthologies and translations. Born in Cleveland, OH, Nelson was educated at the University of California at Davis, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Minnesota, where she completed her Ph.D. Her work has been nominated for the National Book Award three times, an award for which she was a finalist with The Fields of Praise. Her most recent collection Carver: A Life in Poems received the Boston Globe—Horn Book Award. In addition, she is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, the Anisfield-Wolf Award, and the Connecticut Arts Award.
Yusef Komunyakaa wrote in response to The Fields of Praise, “Rooted in the basic soil of redemptive imagination, the voices in Nelson’s poems seek a lyrical foothold in our daily lives. Her words teach us how to praise ourselves by praising each other.”
Bibliography
Poetry
Carver:
A Life in Poems (2001)
The Fields of Praise:
New and Selected Poems (1997)
Magnificat (1994)
The Homeplace (1990)
Mama’s Promises (1985)
For the Body (1978)
Children’s Poetry
The Cat Walked Through the Casserole
and Other Poems for Children (1984)
Hundreds of Hens and Other Poems for
Children (1982)