About Rita Dove
Rita Dove is an american poet and writer. Dove's writings aren't 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. Her famous work to date is 'Thomas and Beulah', published in 1986, a collection of poems based on the lives of her maternal grandparents, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. Dove has published 10 poetry books. Her Collected Poems 1974–2004 was released by W.W. Norton in 2016; it carries an excerpt from President Barack Obama's 2011 National Medal of Arts commendation on its back cover. In 1992, she was nominated a United States Poet Laureate by the Librarian of Congress , an office she held from 1993 to 1995. At the age of 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. She was also the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. Dove's most k,own collection of poetry, Sonata Mulattica, was published in 2009. Over its more than 200 pages, it 'has the sweep and vivid characters of a novel', as Mark Doty wrote in O, The Oprah Magazine. Dove has brought her poetry to television audiences through her appearances on CNN and NBC’s Today Show. Public Broadcasting has devoted an hour-long primetime special to her life and work.Browse all poems and texts published on Rita Dove
