Rita Dove

Rita Dove Nominated for Library of Virginia Award

August 17, 2022

Nine finalists, including Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, have been selected for the 25th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards.

The awards honor Virginia writers and their contributions to literature. The finalists were chosen by an independent panel of judges from more than 108 submissions.

The winner in each category will be selected from among the finalists and announced during a celebration at the Library of Virginia on Oct. 15.

“We are thrilled to celebrate diverse works by Virginia authors or about Virginia topics for the 25th year,” said Librarian of Virginia’s Sandra Treadway. “This event has become a highly anticipated annual tradition for both book lovers and authors enthused about recognizing literary excellence in our commonwealth.”

For the full list of nominees, please visit this link.
Rita Dove Awarded Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Iowa

May 18, 2022

On May 13, 2022, Rita Dove received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Iowa, where she received her MFA in 1977 (Iowa Writers Workshop). It's her 29th honorary degree to date! The full graduate doctoral commencement ceremony is now available on YouTube; Ms. Dove receives her honor beginning at 10:50.
Rita Dove in Conversation with Amanda Gorman for Authors Guild Foundation Gala

May 10, 2022

The 30th Annual Authors Guild Foundation Gala honored Amanda Gorman with the AGF Award for Literature with Social Impact on May 9, 2022. As part of the celebration, Rita Dove and Amanda Gorman conversed about the legacy and impact of poetry today.

For the full Gala video, please visit this link!
Rita Dove and "Thomas and Beulah" Featured on Talk of Iowa

April 22, 2022
To listen to the episode, visit this link!

Published in 1986, Thomas and Beulah is a poetry collection, that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, inspired by the lives of Rita Dove's grandparents.

Dove grew up in Ohio but spent time in Iowa earning her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1977. She has since become one of the most celebrated poets in American History. Dove was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 1993 and was the first Black American to fill that role. She has received the National Humanities Medal, the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her most recent work is Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems, released in 2021. Dove joins host Charity Nebbe for this Talk of Iowa Book Club conversation to reflect on her work.

Later in the podcast, expert readers Debra Marquart and Tracie Morris join the conversation. Marquart is Iowa’s Poet Laureate. She is an author, poet, musician and a distinguished professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. Marquart's most recent book is The Night We Landed on the Moon: Essays Between Exile & Belonging. Morris is the writer and editor of several books, a poet and performer. She is a professor of poetry at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her most recent book is Who Do with Words: A Blerd Love Tone Manifesto. Marquart and Morris delve into Dove's collection to talk about form, structure and themes.

Interested in joining the next meeting of the Talk of Iowa Book Club? The 2022 Book Club reading list is now available and our June selection is A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. Join the discussion June 14, 2022. You can also chat about book club selections and other literary interests with Charity and hundreds of other readers in the Talk of Iowa Book Club Facebook Group.

Guests:

Rita Dove, American poet, writer, former U.S. Poet Laureate 1993 -1995

Tracie Morris, professor of poetry, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa

Debra Marquart, Iowa Poet Laureate, author, poet, musician, distinguished professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University
Rita Dove Commemorated as a "Change Agent" by The University of Virginia

April 18, 2022

[Portrait credit: Sanjay Suchak. Photo credit: Dan Addison]

Poet Rita Dove and the location known as “the Black Bus Stop” are the latest subjects of the University of Virginia’s recent initiative to commemorate important people, places and events that have helped shape UVA over the past approximately 50 years.

A portrait of Dove, currently Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing and a faculty member for more than 30 years, graces the front room of Pavilion VII and can be glimpsed looking through the window.

For more information, please visit this link.
Rita Dove in conversation with Victoria Chang at Virginia Festival for the Book

March 29, 2022

In partnership with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and as the closing event for the 2022 Virginia Festival of the Book, the Virginia Festival for the Book presented poets Victoria Chang (Obit) and Rita Dove (Playlist for the Apocalypse) on March 20, reading from and discussing their recent collections. Chang received the 2021 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Obit, and Dove is a long-time juror for the AWBA, which was established in 1935 and is the only juried American book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity. In conversation with Karen Long.
Playlist for the Apocalypse among Orion Magazine's 12 Poetry Recommendations for Black History Month

February 23, 2022

"Camille Dungy and poet friends are back with another list of stellar recommended reading. From new titles to seminal classics, you’ll want to check out these environmentally-engaged poetry collections by Black poets today, and every day."

Click here to see the full list!
Rita Dove Nominated for LA Book Prize for Poetry

February 23, 2022

The finalists for the 42nd Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced this morning. Winners will be announced at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on April 22, the day before the 27th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books kicks off its first in-person event since the beginning of the pandemic. Winners in the special categories will also be celebrated that day.

Click here to see the full list of nominees!
Rita Dove Featured Guest in "Break Out" Poetry Event

February 15, 2022

This past Saturday, February 12, about half a million people attended Rita Dove's virtual appearance and conversation with Chinese translator Cheng Jia at the 2022 "International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong" via the festival's streaming service. A recording is now available via YouTube:

About the festival: Break Out: IPNHK Reading & Dialogue Series is an online extension of International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong (IPNHK), a biennial program organized by the Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation until November 2019. Created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that brought social distancing and isolation to our lives everywhere, Break Out presents distinguished poets from around the world and their translators in conversation. Poets, translators, and sometimes scholars read poetry in different languages and discuss topics of common interest. Livestreamed in seven sessions from May to August in 2021, the first season of Break Out featured 12 international poets, drawing over 3.3 million viewers in the process.
Rita Dove Among "40 Black Writers Whose Work Changed The World"

February 08, 2022

In honor of Black History Month, Buzzfeed has posted a list of 40 Black writers, including Rita Dove, "whose work has been a cultural game-changer in the United States and throughout the world." Click here for the full list!

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Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing

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