Rita Dove

Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an African-American poet and academic who won the Pulitzer Prize and served as U.S. Poet laureate.

Rita Dove in 2004. Photo by Fred Viebahn. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Rita Dove
Born	Rita Frances Dove 28 1952 (1952-08-28) Akron, Ohio, USA
Occupation	Poet, author
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Miami University, Universität Tübingen, University of Iowa
Notable work(s)	Thomas and Beulah, The Darker Face of the Earth, Sonata Mulattica
Notable award(s)	Pulitzer Prize in Poetry (1987), U.S. Poet Laureate (1993-1995)
Spouse(s)	Fred Viebahn (1979-present)

Life

Youth and education

Dove was born in Akron, Ohio to Ray Dove, the 1st African-American chemist to work in the U.S. tire industry (as research chemist at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company), 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, putting her into the 100 top American high school graduates of that year.

Dove graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Miami University in 1973, and received an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1977. In 1974 she attended Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship.

Career

Dove in 2012. Photo by Slowking4. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Dove taught creative writing at Arizona State University from 1981 to 1989. Since 1989 she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English.

Dove served as Special Bicentennial Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress in 1999/2000, along with Louise Glück and W. S. Merwin.

In 2004 then-governor Mark Warner of Virginia appointed her to a 2-year position as Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia . In her public posts, Dove concentrated on spreading the word about poetry and increasing public awareness of the benefits of literature. As Poet Laureate of Virginia, she also brought together writers to explore the African diaspora through the eyes of its artists.

Her most famous work to date 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 in 1987. In addition to her poetry, she has published short stories (Fifth Sunday, 1985), essays (The Poet's World, 1995), and a novel Through the Ivory Gate (1992).

In 1994 she published a play The Darker Face of the Earth; 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 Luck" (first performance: Boston Symphony, Tanglewood, 1998, conducted by the composer). 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. Dove's latest collection of poetry, Sonata Mulattica, was published in April 2009.

Private life

Dove married Fred Viebahn, a German-born writer in 1979. Their daughter Aviva was born in 1983. The couple are avid ballroom dancers, and have participated in a number of competitions. Dove and her husband live in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Writing

Dove’s work cannot be confined to a specific era or school in contemporary literature; her wide-ranging topics and the precise poetic language with which she captures complex emotions defy easy categorization.

Recognition

Dove was awarded the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the 2nd African American to receive the prize.

She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1993, the 2nd African American to be so appointed. She served from 1993 to 1995 as the youngest person, and as the 1st African American to have that title. (Gwendolyn Brooks had been the last Consultant in Poetry in 1985-1986, prior to the U.S. Congress renaming the position Poet Laureate.)

Dove received a 2nd, special appointment as Poet Laureate in 1999.

Dove has received numerous other literary and academic honors, among them 22 honorary doctorates, the 1996 National Humanities Medal / Charles Frankel Prize, the 3rd Annual Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities in 1997, and most recently, the 2006 Commonwealth Award of Distinguished Service in Literature, the 2008 Library of Virginia Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and the 2009 Premio Capri (Italy). From 1994-2000 she was a senator (member of the governing board) of the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and she is currently a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She has been a featured poet at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival on many occasions, most recently in 2010.

She served as Poet Laureate of Virginia, 2004 - 2006.

Publications

Poetry

• Ten Poems (chapbook). Lisbon, IA: Penumbra Press, 1977.
• The Only Dark Spot in the Sky (chapbook). Phoenix, AZ: Porch Publications.
• The Yellow House on the Corner. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1980.
• Mandolin (chapbook). Athens, OH: Ohio Review, 1982.
• Museum. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1983.
• Thomas and Beulah. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1986. ISBN 978-0-88748021-8
• The Other Side of the House (photographs by Tamarra Kaida). Tempe, AZ: Pyracantha Press, 1988.
• Grace Notes. New York: Norton, 1989. ISBN 978-0-39302719-8
• Selected Poems. New York: Pantheon, 1993. ISBN 978-0-67975080-2
• Lady Freedom among Us. Burke, VT: Janus Press, 1993.
• Mother Love: Poems. New York: Norton, 1995. ISBN 978-0-39331444-1
• Evening Primrose (chapbook). Minneapolis, MN: Tunheim-Santrizos, 1998.
• On the Bus with Rosa Parks: Poems. New York: Norton, 1999. ISBN 978-0-39304722-6
• American Smooth. New York: Norton, 2004. ISBN 978-0-39305987-8
• Sonata Mulattica: Poems. New York: Norton, 2009. ISBN 978-0-39307008-8

Play

• The Darker Face of the Earth: A play (first produced at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 1996; produced at Kennedy Center, 1997; produced in London, England, 1999). Brownsville, OR: Story Line Press, 1994;
  • 3rd edition (revised), 2000.

Novel

• Through the Ivory Gate. New York: Pantheon, 1992.

Short fiction

• Fifth Sunday. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1985; Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1990.

Non-fiction

• (Author of foreword) Multicultural Voices: Literature from the United States. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, 1995.
• The Poet's World (essays). Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1995.
• Conversations with Rita Dove (edited by Earl G. Ingersoll) Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2003.

Edited

• The Best American Poetry 2000. New York: Scribner, 2000.
• The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry. New York: Penguin, 2011.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.

Audio / video

• Rita Dove (cassette). Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri, 1985.
• Rita Dove II (cassette). Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri, 1993.
• Selected Poems (cassette). New York: Random House Audio, 1993.

Poetry Everywhere "American Smooth" by Rita Dove

Except where noted, discoographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• African-American poets
• List of U.S. poets

Preceded by George Garrett

Poet Laureate of Virginia 2004-2006

Succeeded by Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda

External links

Poems

• "The Bridgetower"
• Rita Dove profile & 11 poems at the Academy of American Poets
• Rita Dove b. 1952 at the Poetry Foundation
• Rita Dove: Online Poems
• Rita Dove at PoemHunter (23 poems)

Audio / video

• Rita Dove (b. 1952) at The Poetry Archive
• Audio: Rita Dove at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2010: "How Does a Shadow Shine?".

About

• Rita Dove in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Rita Dove at NNDB.
• The Rita Dove Homepage at the University of Virginia, with resource listing of video, articles etc.
• Rita Dove (1952- ) at Modern American Poetry, University of Illinois.
• "Rita Dove on the Future of Literature". The Smithsonian, August 2010.