RITA DOVE
Name: Rita Frances Dove
Born: August 28, 1952
Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952 in Akron, Ohio, USA) is an American poet
and author.[1] In 1987, she became the second African American poet to win the
Pulitzer Prize (after Gwendolyn Brooks in 1950). From 1993 to 1995, she served
as the first Black and the youngest Poet Laureate of the United States and
Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress
Dove was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952 as the daughter of the first African
American research chemist who broke the race barrier in the tire industry. Her
mother, Elvira Dove nee Hord, had been an honors student in high school and
loved to read literature -- a passion her daughter would share with her early on.
A 1970 Presidential Scholar as one of the 100 top American high school graduates
that year, Rita Dove graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Miami University
in 1973 and received her MFA from the University of Iowa in 1977. In 1974 and
1975, she held a Fulbright Scholarship at the Eberhard Karls University of
Tübingen in Germany. She received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and served
as Poet Laureate of the United States / Consultant in Poetry at the Library of
Congress from 1993-1995; 1999 and 2000, she was Special Bicentennial Consultant
in Poetry at the Library of Congress, and from 2004-2006 she was Poet Laureate
of Virginia. In 1993, at age 40, Dove was elected poet laureate of the United
States, making her both the youngest and the first African American author to
hold that position. As poet laureate she concentrated on spreading the word
about poetry and increasing public awareness of the benefits of literature.
Since 1989 she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in
Charlottesville, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English.
Dove lives in Charlottesville with her husband, the German-born writer Fred
Viebahn. They have a grown daughter, Aviva Dove-Viebahn. Before moving to
Virginia, she taught creative writing at Arizona State University from 1981 to
1989.
Dove's most famous work is Thomas and Beulah, published by Carnegie Mellon
University Press in 1986, a collection of poems loosely based on the lives of
her maternal grandparents, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
in 1987. She has published eight volumes of poetry (most recently "American
Smooth", 2004), a book of short stories ("Fifth Sunday", 1985), a collection of
essays ("The Poet's World", 1995), the novel "Through the Ivory Gate" (1992) and
the play "The Darker Face of the Earth" (1994; revised stage version 1996),
which premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in 1996 (first
European production: Royal National Theatre, London, 1999). She collaborated
with composer John Williams on the song cycle "Seven for Love" (first
performance: Boston Symphony, Tanglewood, 1998, conducted by the composer), and
for "America's Millennium", the White House's 1999/2000 New Year's celebration,
Ms. Dove contributed — in a live reading at the Lincoln Memorial, accompanied by
John Williams's music — a poem to Steven Spielberg's documentary The Unfinished
Journey. Her work is featured in American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006),
and in many other anthologies.
Name: Rita Frances Dove
Born: August 28, 1952
Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952 in Akron, Ohio, USA) is an American poet
and author.[1] In 1987, she became the second African American poet to win the
Pulitzer Prize (after Gwendolyn Brooks in 1950). From 1993 to 1995, she served
as the first Black and the youngest Poet Laureate of the United States and
Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress
Dove was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952 as the daughter of the first African
American research chemist who broke the race barrier in the tire industry. Her
mother, Elvira Dove nee Hord, had been an honors student in high school and
loved to read literature -- a passion her daughter would share with her early on.
A 1970 Presidential Scholar as one of the 100 top American high school graduates
that year, Rita Dove graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Miami University
in 1973 and received her MFA from the University of Iowa in 1977. In 1974 and
1975, she held a Fulbright Scholarship at the Eberhard Karls University of
Tübingen in Germany. She received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and served
as Poet Laureate of the United States / Consultant in Poetry at the Library of
Congress from 1993-1995; 1999 and 2000, she was Special Bicentennial Consultant
in Poetry at the Library of Congress, and from 2004-2006 she was Poet Laureate
of Virginia. In 1993, at age 40, Dove was elected poet laureate of the United
States, making her both the youngest and the first African American author to
hold that position. As poet laureate she concentrated on spreading the word
about poetry and increasing public awareness of the benefits of literature.
Since 1989 she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in
Charlottesville, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English.
Dove lives in Charlottesville with her husband, the German-born writer Fred
Viebahn. They have a grown daughter, Aviva Dove-Viebahn. Before moving to
Virginia, she taught creative writing at Arizona State University from 1981 to
1989.
Dove's most famous work is Thomas and Beulah, published by Carnegie Mellon
University Press in 1986, a collection of poems loosely based on the lives of
her maternal grandparents, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
in 1987. She has published eight volumes of poetry (most recently "American
Smooth", 2004), a book of short stories ("Fifth Sunday", 1985), a collection of
essays ("The Poet's World", 1995), the novel "Through the Ivory Gate" (1992) and
the play "The Darker Face of the Earth" (1994; revised stage version 1996),
which premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in 1996 (first
European production: Royal National Theatre, London, 1999). She collaborated
with composer John Williams on the song cycle "Seven for Love" (first
performance: Boston Symphony, Tanglewood, 1998, conducted by the composer), and
for "America's Millennium", the White House's 1999/2000 New Year's celebration,
Ms. Dove contributed — in a live reading at the Lincoln Memorial, accompanied by
John Williams's music — a poem to Steven Spielberg's documentary The Unfinished
Journey. Her work is featured in American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006),
and in many other anthologies.