Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson (born 1946) is an American poet, translator and children's book author. She is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks.

Early life
Nelson was born on April 26, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio to Melvin M. Nelson, a U.S. serviceman in the Air Force, and Johnnie Mitchell Nelson, a teacher. She was brought up living on military bases, and began writing while in elementary school. She earned her B.A. from the University of California-Davis, and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1979.

Career
She is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Connecticut and the founder and director of Soul Mountain Retreat. She was poet laureate of the State of Connecticut from 2001-2006.

Her poetry collections include The Homeplace (Louisiana State University Press), which won the 1992 Anisfield-Wolf Award, and was a finalist for the 1991 National Book Award; and The Fields Of Praise: New And Selected Poems (Louisiana State University Press), won the 1998 Poets' Prize, and was a finalist for the 1997 National Book Award. Her honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, and a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Publications
Chapbooks Collaborative Books Translations Books for Young Children
 * Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World, Dial Books, 2009, Illustrator Jerry Pinkney, ISBN	9780803731875
 * Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem (Front Street, 2004, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland)
 * Carver, a Life in Poems, Front Street, 2001, ISBN 9781886910539
 * For the Body, Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 9780807104644
 * Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem (Front Street, 2004, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland)
 * Carver, a Life in Poems, Front Street, 2001, ISBN 9781886910539
 * For the Body, Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 9780807104644
 * For the Body, Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 9780807104644
 * For the Body, Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 9780807104644
 * For the Body, Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 9780807104644
 * For the Body, Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 9780807104644
 * She-Devil Circus (Aralia Press, 2001)
 * Triolets for Triolet (Curbstone Press, 2001)
 * Partial Truth (The Kutenai Press, 1992)
 * Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
 * The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith (Lyme Historical Society, Florence Griswold Museum, 2006, illustrated by American paintings from the Florence Griswold Museum)
 * Pemba’s Song : A Ghost Story (Scholastic Press, 2008, with Tonya Hegamin)
 * The Cat Walked Through the Casserole (Carolrhoda Books, 1984, with Pamela Espeland, various illustrators)
 * Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
 * Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
 * The Ladder by Halfdan Rasmussen (translated from Danish, Candlewick, 2006, illustrated by Pierre Pratt)
 * The Thirteenth Month by Inge Pedersen (translated from Danish, Oberlin College Press, 2005)
 * Hecuba by Euripedes, in Euripedes I, Penn Greek Drama Series (translated from earlier English translations, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998)
 * ''Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children' by Halfdan Rasmussen (translated from Danish, Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
 * Snook Alone, Candlewick Press, 2010, Illustrator Timothy Basil Ering, ISBN 9780763626679
 * Beautiful Ballerina (Scholastic Press, 2009, photographs by Susan Kuklin), ISBN 9780545089203
 * The Ladder by Halfdan Rasmussen (Candlewick, 2006)
 * The Cat Walked Through the Casserole (Carolrhoda Books, 1984)
 * Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)

Recognition

 * 2005 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award
 * 2001 Boston Globe/Hornbook Award
 * 1998 Poets' Prize
 * 1992 Anisfield-Wolf Award