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Claudia Rankine

クラウディア・ランキン

Claudia Rankine

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1963-09-04 （Kingston, Jamaica）
Nationality
Jamaican, American
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City (raised) → Pomona, California (teaching) → New Haven (Yale University) → New York (NYU, creative work)

Career

Occupations
poet, essayist, playwright, editor, professor
Active Years
1994-
Affiliations
Pomona College (faculty), Yale University (Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry), New York University (Creative Writing Program, professor), University of Georgia (former associate professor)
Memberships
Academy of American Poets (elected Chancellor, 2013), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow), Royal Society of Literature (International Writer)
Influenced By
Robert Lowell, Judith Butler (influence on language/subjectivity themes)
Nominations
2014 National Book Award (finalist) - Citizen: An American Lyric, 2015 T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlisted) - Citizen: An American Lyric

Education

Williams College
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Columbia University
Degree: MFA
Country: United States

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship
2016
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award (Poetry)
2015
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Category: Poetry
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: Winner
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Poetry)
2014
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Category: Poetry
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Winner
Forward Prize for Best Collection
2015
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Category: Poetry/Collection
Organization: Forward Prizes
Result: Winner
NAACP Image Award (Poetry)
2015
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Category: Poetry
Organization: NAACP
Result: Winner
PEN Open Book Award
2015
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Organization: PEN America
Result: Winner
Jackson Poetry Prize
2014
Organization: Poets & Writers
Result: Winner
Lannan Literary Award
2014
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: Winner
Academy Fellowship (Academy of American Poets)
2005
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: Winner
Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry
2016
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Category: Poetry
Organization: Library of Congress/Bobbitt Prize
Result: Winner
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
2017
Category: Poetry
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: Recipient
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2020
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Result: Elected
Royal Society of Literature International Writer
2021
Organization: Royal Society of Literature
Result: Elected
New York Times Bestseller (nonfiction category)
2015
Work: Citizen: An American Lyric
Organization: The New York Times
Result: Bestseller

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Citizen: An American Lyric

2014 poetry / prose-poetry

A hybrid book mixing poetry, essay, and images that examines everyday racial aggressions, visibility, and citizenship in contemporary America.

racecitizenshipvisibilityeveryday microaggressions

Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric

2004 poetry / experimental prose

An experimental work blending poetry, essay, and television imagery; a hybrid text that intersects personal and social fragments.

lonelinessmedia and memoryprivate and public

Plot

2001 poetry

A collection that addresses pregnancy and motherhood with complicated, sometimes unsettling examinations of bodily and emotional experience.

motherhoodembodimentdisrupted narrative

The White Card: A Play

2019 play

A theatrical work interrogating race and representation.

race and representationart and spectatorship

Just Us: An American Conversation

2020 nonfiction / essays

A book that stages conversations about race, friendship, and politics in America.

conversationracecommunity

Bibliography

  • Nothing in Nature Is Private (1994)
  • The End of the Alphabet (1998)
  • Plot (2001)
  • Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004)
  • Citizen: An American Lyric (2014)
  • The White Card: A Play (2019)
  • Just Us: An American Conversation (2020)

Adaptations

  • Situations (documentary-style video essays)
  • What Remains (collaborative performance with Will Rawls)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
hybrid prose-poetryuse of visual materialsexperimental and fragmentary composition
Recurring Motifs
race and citizenshipvisibility and addressabilitymedia and memory

Legacy

Claudia Rankine is acclaimed for expanding the boundaries of poetry through hybrid forms that interrogate race in contemporary America. As an educator and founder of the Racial Imaginary Institute, she has played a leading role in public conversations about race.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Royal Society of Literature

Quotes

  • "Not long ago you are in a room where someone asks the philosopher Judith Butler what makes language hurtful... Our very being exposes us to the address of another, she answers."
    Source: Citizen: An American Lyric (excerpt) (2014)

Trivia

  • Citizen unusually appeared on The New York Times bestseller list in the nonfiction category for a poetry book.
  • She founded the Racial Imaginary Institute to convene exhibitions, readings, and dialogues about race.
  • Her husband, John Lucas, is a photographer and filmmaker; they have collaborated on multimedia works.