Claudia Emerson

Claudia Emerson
Born	January 13, 1957 Chatham, Virginia, U.S.
Died	December 4, 2014 (aged 57) Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Cause of death	Colon cancer
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Virginia University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Occupation	Poet, professor
Spouse(s)	Kent Ippolito (2000-2014; her death)
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2006) Poet Laureate of Virginia (2008–10) Guggenheim Fellowship (2011)

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

Early life

Emerson was born on January 13, 1957 in Chatham, Virginia and graduated from Chatham Hall preparatory school in 1975.^[4] She received her BA in English from the University of Virginia in 1979 and her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1991.^[5]

Virginia Poets Laureate at University of Mary Washington Reunion Day, June 3, 2011. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (2006-2008), Claudia Emerson (2008-2010), and Kelly Cherry (2010-2012)

Career

Emerson published five poetry collections through Louisiana State University Press: Pharaoh, Pharaoh (1997), Pinion: An Elegy (2002), Late Wife (2005), Figure Studies: Poems (2008), and Secure the Shadow (2012).^[5]

A sixth collection, titled Impossible Bottle, was released posthumously in March 2015.^[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.^[5][13] In 2002, Emerson was Guest Editor of Visions-International (published by Black Buzzard Press). On August 26, 2008, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Virginia, by then Governor Timothy M. Kaine^[14] and served until 2010.^[15] In 2008, she returned to Chatham Hall to serve as The Siragusa Foundation's Poet-in-Residence.^[16]

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.^[17]

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.^[18][19]

Awards and honors

• The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Intro Award, 1991^[17]
• Academy of American Poets Prize, 1991^[17]
• National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1994 (As Claudia Emerson Andrews)^[20]
• Virginia Commission for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, 1995 and 2002^[17]
• University of Mary Washington Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Award, 2003^[17]
• Erskine J. Poetry Prize, 2004 for "Second Bearing, 1919"^[21]
• Witter Bynner Fellowship from Library of Congress, 2005^[22]
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 2006^[23]
• Poet Laureate of Virginia, 2008 - 2010^[14][24]
• Library of Virginia, Virginia Women in History, 2009^[25]
• Fellowship of Southern Writers, Inaugural Winner, Donald Justice Award for Poetry, 2009^[26]
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 2011 ^[27]
• Elected to Membership, Fellowship of Southern Writers, 2011^[28]

Personal life

Emerson married musician Kent Ippolito in 2000. The couple lived in Richmond, Virginia, and performed and wrote songs together.^[29] 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.^[3][5][19]

Bibliography

Poetry collections

• Andrews, Claudia Emerson (1997). Pharaoh, Pharaoh. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State UP.
• Pinion, An Elegy. LSU Press. 2002. ISBN 978-0-8071-2766-7.^[30]
• Late Wife: Poems. LSU Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-8071-3083-4.^[31]
• Figure Studies: Poems. LSU Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8071-3361-3.^[32]
• Secure the Shadow: Poems. LSU Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-8071-4303-2.^[33]
• The Opposite House. LSU Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8071-5848-7.^[34]
• Impossible Bottle. LSU Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-8071-6083-1.^[35]

List of poems

Title	Year	First published	Reprinted/collected
Early elegy : barber	2013	Emerson, Claudia (January 28, 2013). "Early elegy : barber". The New Yorker. 88 (45): 36. Retrieved 2015-04-08.

References

1. "Claudia Emerson profile". poetryfoundation.org. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
2. "Claudia Emerson Wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry". PBS NewsHour.
3. Estes, Lindley (2014), "Distinguished poet, Pulitzer Prize-winner Claudia Emerson dies", The Free Lance-Star, retrieved December 4, 2014
4. Ankrom, R. (2008), "Claudia Emerson – Poet-in-Residence '08", Chatham Hall, retrieved December 4, 2014
5. "Claudia Emerson", Academy of American Poets, 2014, retrieved December 4, 2014
6. "Impossible Bottle". Website. LSU Press. Retrieved 2014-12-06.
7. Yellow Shoe Poets. LSU Press. 1999. ISBN 978-0-8071-2451-2.
8. Garrett, George (1999). The Yellow Shoe Poets (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. p. 264 pp. ISBN 0-8071-2450-8.
9. The Made Thing. The University of Arkansas Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55728-579-9.
10. Stokesbury, Leon (1999). The Made Thing (Cloth) (2nd ed.). Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press. p. 352 pp. ISBN 1-55728-578-0.
11. Strongly Spent: 50 Years of Shenandoah Poetry, news.wlu.edu; accessed December 4, 2014.
12. Kennedy, Sarah (September 2003). Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets of Virginia (Cloth) (1st ed.). Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 0-8139-2222-4. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
13. "Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee Literary Review staff". Website. Washington and Lee University. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
14. "Virginia". loc.gov.
15. "Poets Laureate of Virginia"., Poetry Society of Virginia; accessed December 6, 2014
16. Emerson profile, ChathamHall.org; accessed December 4, 2014.
17. "UMW's Claudia Emerson wins Pulitzer in Poetry" (Press release). University of Mary Washington. April 17, 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-27.
18. "VCU Adds Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet to English Faculty" (Press release). Virginia Commonwealth University. June 20, 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-06.
19. Reid, Zachary (2014), "Claudia Emerson, Pulitzer-winning poet, dies at 57", Richmond Times-Dispatch, retrieved December 4, 2014
20. Stolls, Amy; David Kipen; Jon Peede; Paulette Beete; Campbell Irving; Pamela Kirkpatrick; Garrick Davis (2006). NEA Literature Fellowships: 40 Years of Supporting American Writers (PDF). Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts. p. 12. Retrieved 2006-04-27.
21. Emerson, Claudia (December 4, 2014). "Second Bearing, 1919". Smartish Pace. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
22. "Witter Bynner Fellowships". Website. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
23. "The 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Poetry". Retrieved December 6, 2014.
24. The Poetry Society of Virginia official website
25. "Virginia Women in History: Claudia Emerson". Library of Virginia. 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
26. "Awards". Fellowship of Southern Writers. 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
27. "Claudia Emerson: 2011 - US & Canada Competition -Creative Arts - Poetry". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
28. Brady, H. (March 21, 2011). "Claudia Emerson to Be Inducted into Fellowship of Southern Writers". Media and Public Relations. University of Mary Washington. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
29. "Fredericksburg Songwriters' Showcase". Website. Webliminal.com. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
30. Emerson, Claudia (2002). Pinion: An Elegy (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. p. 55 pp. ISBN 0-8071-2765-5.
31. Emerson, Claudia (September 30, 2005). The Late Wife (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. p. 54 pp. ISBN 0-8071-3083-4.
32. Emerson, Claudia (September 2008). Figure Studies (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3361-3.
33. Emerson, Claudia (February 2012). Secure the Shadow (Cloth) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-4303-2.
34. Emerson, Claudia (March 2015). The Opposite House (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-5848-7.
35. Emerson, Claudia (September 2015). Impossible Bottle (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-6083-1.

External links

• Official website
• Website for LSU Press with links to pages for books published
• Academy of American Poets Biography, bibliography and links to poems
• Poetry Foundation Biography and links to poems and articles published in Poetry (magazine)
• Emerson, Claudia Insistent Places Southern Spaces, October 26, 2009
• Claudia Emerson Papers at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia
• Pulitzer Prize website, Emerson profile
• Library of Congress reading (mp3 format file) Interview and poems
• Kooser, Ted, American Life in Poetry: Column 26--Claudia Emerson's poem "Stable' Emerson's poems "Migrane, Aura and Aftermath" and "What They Want" in Visions International (issue #67)
• 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 December 16, 2002
• Cheuse, Alan, Radio interview with Claudia Emerson on With Good Reason, Virginia Commission for the Humanities, May 22, 2004.
• Bryne, Edward. "Everything We Cannot See: Claudia Emerson's Late Wife".
• Martz, Michael, "Chatham Adds To Literary Legacy" 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).
• 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 transcript and audio file.
• 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 December 16, 2002
• 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)
• Chappell, Fred, "Same mine yields different gems," Raleigh News and Observer review of The Late Wife on December 25, 2005.
• Fellowship of Southern Writers Members Profile page
• "Poets in Person: Claudia Emerson", HD Video in Fredericksburg, VA with Claudia and husband musician Kent Ippolito, The Cortland Review - Spring 2012 Feature, April 8, 2012.
• "Shot Her Dead", an original song performed by Claudia Emerson and Kent Ippolito, The Cortland Review - Spring 2012 Feature, April 8, 2012.
• 5 new poems in text and audio, The Cortland Review - Spring 2012 Feature, April 8, 2012.
• Reid, Zachary, "2 Pulitzer Prize poetry winners to read at VCU event Wednesday", Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 14, 2014.