Marilyn Nelson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]^[5] Her honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, and a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship.^[6] In 2012, the Poetry Society of America awarded her the Frost Medal.^[7] In 2013, Nelson was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.^[8]

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. Illustrator Philippe Lardy. Houghton Mifflin. 2005. 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)
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)

Collaborative Books

Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color. with Elizabeth Alexander, illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Wordsong. 2007. 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)
Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)

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, Illustrator 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 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)

Honors and awards

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

References

External links

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 47682050 LCCN: n78037492 ISNI: 0000 0000 8126 7022 GND: 123941474 SUDOC: 085502456

Persondata
Name	Nelson, Marilyn
Alternative names	Marilyn Nelson Waniek
Short description	American writer
Date of birth	April 26, 1946
Place of birth	Cleveland, Ohio
Date of death
Place of death

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.