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C. D. Wright (Carolyn D. Wright)

シー・ディー・ライト（キャロリン・ディー・ライト）

C. D. Raito (Carolyn D. Wright)

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1949-01-06 （Mountain Home, Arkansas, United States）
Died
2016-01-12 （Barrington, Rhode Island, United States） age 67
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Mountain Home, Arkansas, United States → San Francisco, California, United States → Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico → Providence, Rhode Island, United States → Barrington, Rhode Island, United States

Career

Occupations
Poet, Professor, Publisher / Editor
Active Years
1977-2016
Affiliations
Brown University (Professor of English), Lost Roads Publishers (editor / co-editor), Iowa Writers' Workshop (faculty / visiting)
Memberships
Academy of American Poets (chancellor)
Influenced By
Frank Stanford, San Francisco–area poets (theoretically driven poets)
Influenced
Contemporary American poets working in documentary poetics, Younger poets influenced by her formal experimentation and social themes

Education

Memphis State University (now University of Memphis)
Undergraduate / French
Degree: BA（フランス語）
Period: 1967–1971
Year of Graduation: 1971
Country: United States
Earned a BA in French.
University of Arkansas
Graduate / Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree: MFA
Period: 1974–1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
Received an MFA in poetry; thesis titled 'Alla Breve Loving.'

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
1987
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
Whiting Award
1989
Organization: Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation
Result: 受賞
Poet Laureate of Rhode Island
1994
Category: 州詩人
Organization: State of Rhode Island
Result: 任命（1994–1999）
Foundation for Contemporary Arts (grant)
1999
Organization: Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Result: 助成
MacArthur Fellowship
2004
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Robert Creeley Award
2005
Organization: Robert Creeley Foundation
Result: 受賞
Griffin Poetry Prize
2009
Work: Rising, Falling, Hovering
Organization: The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry
Result: 受賞
National Book Award (Finalist)
2010
Work: One With Others
Category: 詩
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 最終候補
National Book Critics Circle Award
2010
Work: One With Others
Category: 詩
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞（詩部門）
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
2011
Work: One With Others
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Deepstep Come Shining

1998 Poetry (book-length poem)

A formally adventurous book-length poem meditating on Southern memory and collective/personal histories.

The American SouthMemoryHistory

One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana

2003 Poetry (documentary poetry / collaboration)

A collaboration with photographer Deborah Luster documenting prisoners in Louisiana through poems accompanying photographs.

IncarcerationVoices of the marginalizedHuman rights

One With Others

2010 Poetry (investigative / historical poetry)

Combines investigative reporting, history, and poetry to explore local civil-rights events in Arkansas and their personal resonances.

Civil rightsLocal historyJustice

Rising, Falling, Hovering

2008 Poetry

A collection combining varied voices and fragments; winner of the 2009 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Layered voicesFragmentsExistential fluctuation

Tremble

1996 Poetry

A collection of distilled lyrics notable for formal concision and sensual imagery.

CorporealitySensationIntimacy

Bibliography

  • Room Rented By A Single Woman (1977)
  • Terrorism (1979)
  • Translation of the Gospel Back into Tongues (1981)
  • Further Adventures with You (1986)
  • String Light (1991)
  • Just Whistle: A Valentine (1993)
  • Tremble (1996)
  • Deepstep Come Shining (1998)
  • Steal Away: New and Selected Poems (2002)
  • One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana (2003)
  • Cooling Time: An American Poetry Vigil (2005)
  • One Big Self: An Investigation (2007)
  • Rising, Falling, Hovering (2008)
  • 40 Watts (2009)
  • One With Others (2010)
  • ShallCross (2016)
  • The Poet, The Lion, ... Fire & All (essays, 2016)
  • Casting Deep Shade: an Amble (2019)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Formally experimentalIncorporates documentary-poetic methodsHybrid of lyricism and investigative writing
Recurring Motifs
The American SouthVoice and dialoguePrisons and prisoners' voicesMemory and history

Health

  • Thrombosis
    2016年1月（急性）
    Died peacefully in her sleep due to a thrombosis after a long flight. She remained active creatively until late in life; cause of death was acute thrombosis.

Legacy

C. D. Wright is known for combining formal experimentation with documentary ethics, centering Southern voices and incarcerated people in her work and expanding possibilities for documentary poetry in the 21st century. She also influenced younger poets as an educator and publisher.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets

Archives

  • Brown University archives (holds related materials)
  • Lost Roads Publishers records (where applicable)

Quotes

  • She 'belongs to a school of exactly one.'
    Source: Quoted by Joel Brouwer (The New York Times) (2008)
  • "I come from Arkansas... one comes to take some pride in one's own outsider status."
    Source: Interview with Kent Johnson (Jacket, 2001) (2001)

Trivia

  • She took over Lost Roads Publishers after Frank Stanford's death and continued publishing new poets and translations.
  • Elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2013.