Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson
Born	(1946-04-26) April 26, 1946 Cleveland, Ohio
Occupation	Professor
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of California-Davis; University of Pennsylvania; University of Minnesota
Genre	Poetry

Marilyn Nelson (born April 26, 1946) is an American poet, translator and children's book author. She is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks. From 1978 to 1994 she wrote books as Marilyn Nelson Waniek.

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 a B.A. from the University of California-Davis, 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), which 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. In 2012, the Poetry Society of America awarded her the Frost Medal. In 2013, Nelson was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Published works

Poetry books

• Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World (Dial Books, 2009, Illustrator Jerry Pinkney, ISBN 9780803731875)
• The Freedom Business: Including A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa (Front Street, 2008, ISBN 978-1-932425-57-4)
• A Wreath for Emmett Till (Houghton Mifflin, 2005, Illustrator Philippe Lardy, ISBN 978-0-618-39752-5)
• The Cachoeira Tales, and Other Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-8071-3064-3)
• Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem (Front Street, 2004, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland)
• Carver, a Life in Poems (Front Street, 2001, ISBN 978-1-886910-53-9)
• The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8071-2175-7)
• Magnificat (Louisiana State University Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-8071-1921-1)
• The Homeplace (Louisiana State University Press, 1990, ISBN 978-0-8071-1641-8)
• Mama's Promises (Louisiana State University Press, 1985, ISBN 978-0-8071-1250-2)
• For the Body (Louisiana State University Press, 1978, ISBN 978-0-8071-0464-4)

Chapbooks

• She-Devil Circus (Aralia Press, 2001)
• Triolets for Triolet (Curbstone Press, 2001)
• Partial Truth (The Kutenai Press, 1992)
• 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)

Collaborative books

• Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color (Wordsong, 2007, with Elizabeth Alexander, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, ISBN 978-1-59078-456-3)
• 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)

Translations

• 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)

Books for young children

• Snook Alone (Candlewick Press, 2010, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering, ISBN 978-0-7636-2667-9)
• Beautiful Ballerina (Scholastic Press, 2009, photographs by Susan Kuklin, ISBN 978-0-545-08920-3)
• The Cat Walked Through the Casserole (Carolrhoda Books, 1984)

Honors and awards

• 2001 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award
• 1998 Poets' Prize
• 1992 Anisfield-Wolf Award

External links

• Marilyn Nelson at Library of Congress Authorities, with 24 catalog records