Meditations on captivity, knowledge and inheritance permeate Trethewey’s poems, as she reflects on her own interracial, complicated—and utterly American—roots. This brilliant and fearless poet masterfully gives a voice to the past and present as she explores human struggles we face in common.
Natasha Trethewey is the author of four poetry collections, including Native Guard, for which she was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and a book of creative non-fiction, Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She holds the Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Emory University. Ms. Trethewey was appointed United States Poet Laureate in June 2012, and begins her official duties in September. She is the also Poet Laureate of Mississippi.
Robert Casper is Head of the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. He previously worked as Programs Director for the Poetry Society of America and as Membership Director for the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, and served as Poetry Committee Chair for the Brooklyn Borough President's Literary Council. Casper is Founder of the literary magazine jubilat and Co-Founder of the jubilat/Jones Reading Series in Amherst, MA.
