Rita Dove
| Rita Dove | |
|---|---|
2012
|
|
| Born | Rita Frances Dove August 28, 1952 Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | Poet, author, university professor |
| Alma mater |
Miami University Universität Tübingen University of Iowa |
| Notable works |
Thomas and Beulah The Darker Face of the Earth Sonata Mulattica |
| Notable awards |
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1987) United States Poet Laureate (1993–95) Poet Laureate of Virginia (2004–06) 1996 National Humanities Medal 2011 National Medal of Arts |
| Spouse | Fred Viebahn (1979–present) |
Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African-American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006.
Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio, to Ray Dove, the first African-American chemist to work in the U.S. tire industry (as research chemist at Goodyear), and Elvira Hord, who achieved honors in high school and would share her passion for reading with her daughter. In 1970 Dove graduated from Buchtel High School as a Presidential Scholar. Later, Dove graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Miami University in 1973. In 1974 she held a Fulbright Scholarship from Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany. She received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1977.
Dove taught creative writing at Arizona State University from 1981 to 1989. She received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. In 1992 she was named United States Poet Laureate by the Librarian of Congress, an office she held from 1993 to 1995. At age 40, Dove was the youngest person to hold the position and is the first African American to hold the position since the title was changed to Poet Laureate (Robert Hayden had served as the first non-white Consultant in Poetry from 1976 to 1978, and Gwendolyn Brooks had been the last Consultant in Poetry in 1985–86). Early in her tenure as poet laureate, Dove was featured by Bill Moyers in a one-hour interview on his PBS prime-time program Bill Moyers Journal. Since 1989 she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English.
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