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Rachel Eliza Griffiths

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Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Lady Rushdie
Griffiths at the 2023 Texas Book Festival
Born (1978-12-06) 6 December 1978 (age 45)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationUniversity of Delaware
Sarah Lawrence College (MFA)
Occupation(s)Poet, novelist, photographer and visual artist
Spouse
​
(m. 2021)​
Websitewww.rachelelizagriffiths.com

Rachel Eliza Griffiths (born 1978)[1][2] is an American poet, novelist, photographer and visual artist, who is the author of five published collections of poems. In Seeing the Body (2020), she "pairs poetry with photography, exploring memory, Black womanhood, the American landscape, and rebirth."[3] It was a nominee for the 2021 NAACP Image Award in Poetry.[4]

Biography

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Born in Washington, D.C.,[5] she was the eldest of four children of Michele Antoinette Pray-Griffiths and Norman Dwight Griffiths.[6] Her father was an environmental lawyer, her mother a community organizer and former police officer.[7][8][9] Rachel Eliza Griffiths graduated from St. Mark's High School and the University of Delaware, where she earned her undergraduate degree and her first master's degree.[10] She received the MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She has been awarded several fellowships, including from Cave Canem Foundation, Kimbilio, Millay Colony, Vermont Studio Center, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Yaddo.[11]

Among the many journals, periodicals and other outlets in which Griffiths has been published are The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Progressive, The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, Callaloo, Poets & Writers, American Poetry Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, The Writer's Chronicle, Transition, American Poet, Mosaic, Indiana Review, and Ecotone Magazine.[12]

In 2011, she featured in the first poetry issue of Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine.[13]

Griffiths was the creator of the series of video interview Poets on Poetry (P.O.P),[14] in which contemporary poets discuss poetry "in relation to individual human experience and culture".[15]

Speaking in 2015 about working in a variety of genres, she said: "I like the fluidity each genre offers me spatially, emotionally, and creatively. I can take an idea, word/fragment, or image and open it up across forms."[16]

She is the author of five collections of poems: Miracle Arrhythmia (2010), The Requited Distance (2011), Mule & Pear (2011), Lighting the Shadow (2015), and Seeing the Body (2020).

Mule & Pear won the 2012 inaugural Poetry Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and Lighting the Shadow was a finalist for the 2015 Balcones Poetry Prize and for the 2016 Phillis Wheatley Book Award (Poetry category).[12]

In 2020's Seeing the Body, Griffiths uses photography as well as poetry to tell the story of her mother's death in 2014 and, as described by Guernica magazine, "brings together poetry and photography to powerful effect, providing the reader with an experience that’s both visually and emotionally arresting".[17] For the Los Angeles Review of Books, "The result is a radiant and soulful collection."[3] Seeing the Body was selected as one of NPR's Best Books of 2020,[18] and was a nominee for the 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry.[19] Seeing the Body won the 2021 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry,[20] and was also the winner of the 2021 Paterson Poetry Prize awarded by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College.[21]

Anthologies in which work by Griffiths has appeared include Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (edited by Camille T. Dungy, 2009),[22] New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby (2019),[23] and The Best American Poetry 2021 (edited by Tracy K. Smith).[24]

Griffiths was chosen as poet-in-residence for 2020 at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.[25]

In February 2021, Griffiths was guest editor for the Academy of American Poets initiative Poem-a-Day.[26]

Her 2023 debut novel, Promise, was published by Random House in the US,[27][28] and John Murray in the UK.[29] It was described in Kirkus Reviews as a "stunning and evocative portrait of love, pride, and survival".[30] The Times' reviewer said "Promise is by turns enchanting and enraging, and it left me emotionally shattered."[31]

Personal life

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As of 2021, Griffiths lives in New York City.[12][32]

In 2021, she married Indian-born, British-American novelist Sir Salman Rushdie.[33]

Bibliography

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  • Miracle Arrhythmia (Willow Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0984621200)
  • The Requited Distance (The Sheep Meadow Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1931357913)
  • Mule & Pear (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2011, ISBN 978-1936970018)
  • Lighting the Shadow (Four Way Books, 2015, ISBN 978-1935536574)
  • Seeing the Body, poetry and photography (W. W. Norton, 2020, ISBN 978-1-324-02016-5)
  • Promise, novel (US: Random House, ISBN 9780593241929; UK: John Murray, ISBN 9781399809818, July 2023)

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ Lehman, David; Paisley Rekdal, eds. (2020). The Best American Poetry. Simon & Schuster. p. 232. ISBN 9781982106614.
  2. ^ Busby, Margaret, ed. (2019). New Daughters of Africa (PDF). Myriad Editions. p. xiii. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  3. ^ a b Herrington, Sarah (October 13, 2020). "Anatomy of Grief: A Conversation with Rachel Eliza Griffiths". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  4. ^ "Seeing the Body". W. W. Norton and Company. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  5. ^ "Rachel Eliza Griffiths: Biography". Hurston/Wright Foundation. Archived from the original on 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  6. ^ Kellaway, Kate (June 17, 2023). "Interview | Writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths: 'There's a strength you don't realise you have access to'". The Observer.
  7. ^ "Shadows in Light: An Interview with Rachel Eliza Griffiths". The Free Library. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  8. ^ Kellaway, Kate (June 17, 2023). "Interview | Writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths: 'There's a strength you don't realise you have access to'". The Observer.
  9. ^ "'You put so much of your life and imagination into a book like this': Rachel Eliza Griffiths on her debut novel". Harper's Bazaar. July 5, 2023. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  10. ^ Pruden, Scott (August 6, 2020). "In Her New Book of Poetry, Rachel Eliza Griffiths Conveys Beauty in Loss". Delaware Today. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021.
  11. ^ "Rachel Eliza Griffiths". poets.org. Archived from the original on 2021-08-30. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  12. ^ a b c "About". Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Archived from the original on 2021-08-30. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  13. ^ Moorer, Melissa (July 8, 2015). "This Writer's On Fire: Rachel Eliza Griffiths". The Toast. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  14. ^ Griffiths, Rachel Eliza (April 11, 2014). "Poets on Poetry: A Virtual Village of Discovery and Poetics". poets.org. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  15. ^ "Rachel Eliza Griffiths on Seeing the Body". Thresholds. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  16. ^ Morgan, Saretta (October 4, 2015). "The Risk of Being Human: an Interview With Rachel Eliza Griffiths". The Common. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  17. ^ Purkert, Ben (August 3, 2020). "Back Draft: Rachel Eliza Griffiths". Guernica. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  18. ^ "NPR's Book Concierge". NPR. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  19. ^ Bosselman, Haley (March 28, 2021). "NAACP Image Awards 2021: The Complete Televised Winners List". Variety. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  20. ^ Murua, James (October 18, 2021). "Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Awards 2021 Winners Announced". Writing Africa. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
  21. ^ "2021 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner". The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. October 28, 2021. Archived from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  22. ^ Dungy, Camille T. "Black nature : four centuries of African American nature poetry". WorldCat. OCLC 731270248.
  23. ^ Busby, Margaret. "New daughters of Africa". WorldCat. OCLC 1066069680.
  24. ^ "The Best American Poetry 2021 (The Best American Poetry series)". Library Thing. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  25. ^ "Rachel Eliza Griffiths Named new Poet In Residence". Stella Adler Studio of Acting. January 22, 2020. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  26. ^ "February 2021 Poem-a-Day Guest Editor Rachel Eliza Griffiths". poet.org. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  27. ^ "Stopping by with Rachel Eliza Griffiths". Poetry Society of America. 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-30. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  28. ^ "Cover reveal: See the cover for Rachel Eliza Griffiths's Promise". Literary Hub. February 23, 2023. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  29. ^ Brown, Lauren (February 24, 2023). "John Murray signs Griffiths' 'powerful' novel Promise in first acquisition for Battle-Felton". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  30. ^ "Promise". Kirkus Reviews. April 24, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  31. ^ Thomas-Corr, Johanna (26 November 2023). "Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths review — the summer of funerals". The Times. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  32. ^ Moore, Opal (November 20, 2020). "Rachel Eliza Griffiths Interview". Mosaic Magazine. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  33. ^ Remnick, David (6 February 2023). "The Defiance of Salman Rushdie". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
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