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Claudia Emerson

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

Claudia Emerson

(1957-01-13)January 13, 1957

December 4, 2014(2014-12-04) (aged 57)

Poet, professor

Kent Ippolito
(m. 2000)

Career[edit]

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), Impossible Bottle (2015), The Opposite House (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).[14] On August 26, 2008, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Virginia, by then Governor Timothy M. 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[edit]

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]

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Intro Award, 1991

[18]

Prize, 1991[18]

Academy of American Poets

Fellowship, 1994 (As Claudia Emerson Andrews)[22]

National Endowment for the Arts

Virginia Commission for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, 1995 and 2002

[18]

Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Award, 2003[18]

University of Mary Washington

Erskine J. Poetry Prize, 2004 for "Second Bearing, 1919"

[23]

from Library of Congress, 2005[24]

Witter Bynner Fellowship

for Poetry, 2006[25]

Pulitzer Prize

2008–2010[15][26]

Poet Laureate of Virginia

Virginia Women in History, 2009[27]

Library of Virginia

Inaugural Winner, Donald Justice Award for Poetry, 2009[28]

Fellowship of Southern Writers

2011[29]

Guggenheim Fellowship

Elected to Membership, , 2011[30]

Fellowship of Southern Writers

. LSU Press. 1997. ISBN 978-0807121597.

Pharaoh, Pharaoh

. LSU Press. 2002. ISBN 978-0-8071-2766-7.[31]

Pinion, An Elegy

. LSU Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-8071-3083-4.[32]

Late Wife: Poems

. LSU Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8071-3361-3.[33]

Figure Studies: Poems

. LSU Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-8071-4303-2.[34]

Secure the Shadow: Poems

. LSU Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8071-5848-7.[35]

The Opposite House

. LSU Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8071-6083-1.[36]

Impossible Bottle

. LSU Press. 2018. ISBN 978-0807167861.

Claude before Time and Space

Official website

Website for LSU Press with links to pages for books published

[1]

Academy of American Poets Biography, bibliography and links to poems

[2]

Poetry Foundation Biography and links to poems and articles published in Poetry (magazine)

[3]

Emerson, Claudia Southern Spaces, October 26, 2009

Insistent Places

Emerson profile

Pulitzer Prize website

Interview and poems

Library of Congress reading (mp3 format file)

American Life in Poetry: Column 26—Claudia Emerson's poem "Stable" Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Emerson's poems "Migrane, Aura and Aftermath" and "What They Want" in Visions International (issue #67)

Kooser, Ted

December 16, 2002

Williams, Susan Settlemyre, "Review | Pinion: An Elegy, by Claudia Emerson", Blackbird: An Online Journal of Literature and the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Volume 1, No. 2

Radio interview with Claudia Emerson on With Good Reason, Virginia Commission for the Humanities, May 22, 2004.

Cheuse, Alan

.

Bryne, Edward. "Everything We Cannot See: Claudia Emerson's Late Wife"

April 26, 2006 (originally published as "Pulitzer-winning poet from Chatham Virginia: Professor latest with ties to town to bask in literary glory," in the Richmond Times Dispatch on April 20, 2006).

Martz, Michael, "Chatham Adds To Literary Legacy"

December 16, 2002, transcript and audio file.

Williams, Susan Settlemyre, "An Interview with Claudia Emerson, Blackbird: An Online Journal of Literature and the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Volume 1, No 2

December 16, 2002

Williams, Susan Settlemyre, "Review | Pinion: An Elegy, by Claudia Emerson", Blackbird: An Online Journal of Literature and the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Volume 1, No. 2

Emerson, Claudia,

"Poems: The Bat, Pitching Horseshoes, Possessions, Surface Hunting", Blackbird: An Online Journal of Literature and the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Volume 2, No. 1, (Spring, 2003)

Fellowship of Southern Writers Members Profile page

Archived October 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, HD Video in Fredericksburg, VA with Claudia and husband musician Kent Ippolito, The Cortland Review – Spring 2012 Feature, April 8, 2012.

"Poets in Person: Claudia Emerson"

Archived July 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, an original song performed by Claudia Emerson and Kent Ippolito, The Cortland Review – Spring 2012 Feature, April 8, 2012.

"Shot Her Dead"

Archived October 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, The Cortland Review – Spring 2012 Feature, April 8, 2012.

5 new poems in text and audio

Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 14, 2014.

Reid, Zachary, "2 Pulitzer Prize poetry winners to read at VCU event Wednesday"