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Claudia Emerson

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Claudia Emerson
Born(1957-01-13)January 13, 1957
Chatham, Virginia, U.S.
DiedDecember 4, 2014(2014-12-04) (aged 57)
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Virginia (BA)
University of North Carolina, Greensboro (MFA)
Occupation(s)Poet, professor
Spouse
Kent Ippolito
​
(m. 2000)​
AwardsPulitzer Prize for Poetry (2006)
Poet Laureate of Virginia (2008–10)
Guggenheim Fellowship (2011)

Claudia Emerson (January 13, 1957 – December 4, 2014)[1] was an American poet. She won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Late Wife,[2][3] and was named the Poet Laureate of Virginia by Governor Tim Kaine in 2008.[4]

Early life

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Emerson was born on January 13, 1957, in Chatham, Virginia, and graduated from Chatham Hall, a preparatory school, in 1975.[5] She received her BA in English from the University of Virginia in 1979 and her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1991.[1]

Virginia Poets Laureate at University of Mary Washington Reunion Day, June 3, 2011. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (2006–2008), Claudia Emerson (2008–2010), and Kelly Cherry (2010–2012)

Career

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Emerson published eight poetry collections through Louisiana State University Press's Southern Messenger Poets series: Pharaoh, Pharaoh (1997), Pinion: An Elegy (2002), Late Wife (2005), Figure Studies: Poems (2008), Secure the Shadow (2012), The Opposite House (2015), Impossible Bottle (2015), and Claude Before Time and Space (2018).[1]

Three collections were published posthumously, The Opposite House (March 2015), Impossible Bottle (September 2015) and Claude Before Time and Space (February 2018).[6]

In addition to her collections, Emerson's work has been included in such anthologies as Yellow Shoe Poets,[7][8] The Made Thing,[9][10] Strongly Spent: 50 Years of Shenandoah Poetry,[11] and Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets of Virginia.[12]

Emerson served as poetry editor for the Greensboro Review and a contributing editor for the literary magazine Shenandoah.[1][13] In 2002, Emerson was Guest Editor of Visions-International (published by Black Buzzard Press).[citation needed][14] On August 26, 2008, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Virginia, by then Governor Tim Kaine[15] and served until 2010.[16] In 2008, she returned to Chatham Hall to serve as The Siragusa Foundation's Poet-in-Residence.[17]

She taught at several colleges including Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. She spent over a decade at the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, as an English professor and the Arrington Distinguished Chair in Poetry.[18]

In 2013, Emerson joined the creative writing faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where she taught until her death in 2014 from colon cancer at age 57.[19][20]

Personal life

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Emerson married musician Kent Ippolito in 2000. The couple lived in Richmond, Virginia, and performed and wrote songs together.[21] After missing most of the Fall 2014 semester while seeking cancer treatments, Claudia Emerson died on December 4, 2014, in Richmond at the age of 57 from complications associated with colon cancer.[4][1][20]

Awards and honors

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Bibliography

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Poetry collections

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  • Pharaoh, Pharaoh. LSU Press. 1997. ISBN 978-0807121597.
  • Pinion, An Elegy. LSU Press. 2002. ISBN 978-0-8071-2766-7.[31]
  • Late Wife: Poems. LSU Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-8071-3083-4.[32]
  • Figure Studies: Poems. LSU Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8071-3361-3.[33]
  • Secure the Shadow: Poems. LSU Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-8071-4303-2.[34]
  • The Opposite House. LSU Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8071-5848-7.[35]
  • Impossible Bottle. LSU Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8071-6083-1.[36]
  • Claude Before Time and Space. LSU Press. 2018. ISBN 978-0807167861.

List of poems

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Title Year First published Reprinted/collected
Early Elegy: Barber 2013 Emerson, Claudia (January 28, 2013). "Early Elegy: Barber". The New Yorker. Vol. 88, no. 45. p. 36. Retrieved April 8, 2015.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Claudia Emerson", Academy of American Poets, 2014, retrieved December 4, 2014
  2. ^ "Claudia Emerson profile". poetryfoundation.org. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  3. ^ "Claudia Emerson Wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry". PBS NewsHour. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Estes, Lindley (2014), "Distinguished poet, Pulitzer Prize-winner Claudia Emerson dies", The Free Lance-Star, retrieved December 4, 2014
  5. ^ Ankrom, R. (2008), "Claudia Emerson – Poet-in-Residence '08", Chatham Hall, archived from the original on December 7, 2014, retrieved December 4, 2014
  6. ^ "Impossible Bottle". Website. LSU Press. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  7. ^ Yellow Shoe Poets. LSU Press. 1999. ISBN 978-0-8071-2451-2.
  8. ^ Garrett, George (1999). The Yellow Shoe Poets (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. p. 264. ISBN 0-8071-2450-8. Retrieved April 28, 2006.
  9. ^ The Made Thing. The University of Arkansas Press. 1999. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-55728-579-9.
  10. ^ Stokesbury, Leon (1999). The Made Thing (Cloth) (2nd ed.). Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press. p. 352 pp. ISBN 1-55728-578-0.
  11. ^ Strongly Spent: 50 Years of Shenandoah Poetry[permanent dead link], news.wlu.edu; accessed December 4, 2014.
  12. ^ Kennedy, Sarah (September 2003). Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets of Virginia (1st ed.). Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 0-8139-2222-4. Archived from the original (Cloth) on September 28, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  13. ^ "Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee Literary Review staff". Website. Washington and Lee University. Retrieved April 7, 2006.
  14. ^ Davis, Tim (December 4, 2014). "Former Virginia poet laureate, Chatham native Claudia Emerson dies". Star-Tribune. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Virginia". loc.gov.
  16. ^ "Poets Laureate of Virginia". Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2014., Poetry Society of Virginia; accessed December 6, 2014
  17. ^ Emerson profile Archived December 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, ChathamHall.org; accessed December 4, 2014.
  18. ^ a b c d e "UMW's Claudia Emerson wins Pulitzer in Poetry" (Press release). University of Mary Washington. April 17, 2006. Archived from the original on September 6, 2006. Retrieved April 27, 2006.
  19. ^ "VCU Adds Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet to English Faculty" (Press release). Virginia Commonwealth University. June 20, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
  20. ^ a b Reid, Zachary (2014), "Claudia Emerson, Pulitzer-winning poet, dies at 57", Richmond Times-Dispatch, retrieved December 4, 2014
  21. ^ "Fredericksburg Songwriters' Showcase". Website. Webliminal.com. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  22. ^ Stolls, Amy; David Kipen; Jon Peede; Paulette Beete; Campbell Irving; Pamela Kirkpatrick; Garrick Davis (2006). NEA Literature Fellowships: 40 Years of Supporting American Writers (PDF). Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2006.
  23. ^ Emerson, Claudia (December 4, 2014). "Second Bearing, 1919". Smartish Pace. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  24. ^ "Witter Bynner Fellowships". Website. Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2006.
  25. ^ "The 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Poetry". Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  26. ^ The Poetry Society of Virginia official website Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ "Virginia Women in History: Claudia Emerson". Library of Virginia. 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  28. ^ "Awards". Fellowship of Southern Writers. 2009. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  29. ^ "Claudia Emerson: 2011 – US & Canada Competition -Creative Arts – Poetry". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2011. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  30. ^ Brady, H. (March 21, 2011). "Claudia Emerson to Be Inducted into Fellowship of Southern Writers". Media and Public Relations. University of Mary Washington. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  31. ^ Emerson, Claudia (2002). Pinion: An Elegy (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. p. 55 pp. ISBN 0-8071-2765-5.
  32. ^ Emerson, Claudia (September 30, 2005). The Late Wife (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. p. 54 pp. ISBN 0-8071-3083-4.
  33. ^ Emerson, Claudia (September 2008). Figure Studies (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3361-3.
  34. ^ Emerson, Claudia (February 2012). Secure the Shadow (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-4303-2.
  35. ^ Emerson, Claudia (March 2015). The Opposite House (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-5848-7.
  36. ^ Emerson, Claudia (September 2015). Impossible Bottle (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-6083-1.
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