Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson is the author or translator of some twenty poetry books and chapbooks for adults, young adults, and children. Many of her collections have won awards, and her poems have been widely anthologized.

Her books include Faster Than Light: New and Selected Poems, 1996-2011 (2012); The Cachoeira Tales, and Other Poems (2005); The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (1997); Magnificat (1994); The Homeplace (1990); Mama’s Promises (1985); and For the Body (1978), all from Louisiana State University Press.

Nelson’s honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a fellowship from the J.S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Ruth Lilly Award, the Robert Frost Medal, and the Wallace Stevens Award. She has served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, as Poet-in-Residence of the Poets Corner at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and as the Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut.

The mother of two and grandmother of two, she lives quietly, retired from a long career in academia, with her daughter and three cats.

Photo courtesy of Blue Flower Arts