Rita Dove

American poet and author · United States · On the map · Writers · Born 1952 · age 74

Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

Rita Dove is read about 61 times a day, in 21 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2022Ruth Lilly Poetry PrizeAward2019Wallace Stevens AwardAward2018Honorary Doctor of Harvard UniversityAward2014Honorary Doctor of Yale UniversityAward2011National Medal of ArtsAward2000“I discovered that poetry and drama have more in common than Aristotle, with his "classic dramatic unities," may have cared to admit.”In their words2000 interview included in Conversations with Rita DoveRead the whole statement

“I believe my poetry reflects an intense relationship to the music of the spoken word.”In their words2000 interview included in Conversations with Rita DoveRead the whole statement

1996Charles Frankel PrizeAwardHeinz AwardAwardHonorary Degree from Spelman CollegeAwardNational Humanities MedalAward1994Honorary Doctor of the University of MiamiAward1993“There are poets I return to again and again for sustenance: I read them, shake my head and wonder, How did they do that?”In their words1993 interview included in Conversations with Rita DoveRead the whole statement

1992“I am deeply grateful to the women who really blazed the way-poets like Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath and Maxine Kumin.”In their words1992 interview included in Conversations with Rita Dove Edited by Earl G. Ingersoll (2003)Read the whole statement

1991Ohio Women's Hall of FameAward1988“I am Rita Dove, / the beautiful dove. / See my black neck, / see my speck. / My ass is not so much cracked / but i want to get out now. / The poet, am I. / Am me.”In their wordsAmerica, 1988Read the whole statement

1987Pulitzer Prize for PoetryAward1983Guggenheim FellowshipAward1974Fulbright ScholarshipAward1952Born28 August 1952

People around Rita

Reetika Vazirani Studied under Rita

Also in Deutsch

Media & music

Photos 4

Dove and then-national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman at the "Furious Flower" gala in Washington, D.C., September 27, 2019

Poet Laureate Rita Dove's definition of a library at the entrance to the Maine State Library in Augusta, Maine. Dove's definition reads "The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.".

In their own words 1

Rita Dove

One statement

The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.
Rita Dove's definition of the world "library", as displayed on a sign at the entrance of the Maine State Library in Augusta, Maine., Own words

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Awards

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize2022

Wallace Stevens Award2019

Honorary Doctor of Harvard University2018

Honorary Doctor of Yale University2014

National Medal of Arts2011

National Humanities Medal1996

Charles Frankel Prize1996

Honorary Degree from Spelman College1996

Heinz Award1996

Honorary Doctor of the University of Miami1994

Ohio Women's Hall of Fame1991

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry1987

Guggenheim Fellowship1983

Fulbright Scholarship1974

Honorary Doctorate from Emory University

About this person

She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937-86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. Since 1989, she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she held the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English from 1993 to 2020; as of 2020, she holds the chair of Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.

Country

United States