World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Cornelius Eady

コーネリアス・イーディー

Kōneriasu Īdī

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1954 （Rochester, New York, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Rochester, New York (birthplace) → Knoxville, Tennessee (residence)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Writer, Professor
Active Years
1980-
Affiliations
Cave Canem Foundation (co-founder), Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, State University of New York at Stony Brook, City College of New York, University of Missouri, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Memberships
Cave Canem (co-founder/involved)

Awards

Lamont Poetry Prize
1985
Work: Victims of the Latest Dance Craze
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: winner
National Book Award (Poetry)
2001
Work: Brutal Imagination
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: finalist
Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award
Organization: Lila Wallace / Reader's Digest
Result: winner
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: fellowship
Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship
Organization: Rockefeller Foundation
Result: fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: fellowship
Strousse Award (Prairie Schooner)
Organization: Prairie Schooner
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Kartunes

1980 Poetry

Eady's first book of poems, containing early experimental work with musical rhythms and reflections on Black American experience.

musicracefamily

Victims of the Latest Dance Craze

1986 Poetry

A prize-winning collection addressing race, urban life, and family history.

urban liferaceidentity

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM: A Chapbook

1988 Poetry

A short chapbook marked by rhythm and colloquial expression.

musicrhythm

The Gathering of My Name

1991 Poetry

A collection exploring identity and family through poems about names and memory.

memoryfamilyidentity

You Don't Miss Your Water: Poems

1995 Poetry

A collection incorporating blues and jazz tones, dealing with everyday life, loss, and community.

blueslosscommunity

The Autobiography of a Jukebox: Poems

1997 Poetry

A collection using a jukebox as narrator to explore music and memory as conduits for people's stories.

musicmemorynarrative

Brutal Imagination: Poems

2001 Poetry

One of his major works, consisting of two cycles: the title sequence imagining an invented Black man blamed in the Susan Smith case, and "Running Man," focusing on African-American family and barriers of color and class. Finalist for the 2001 National Book Award in Poetry.

raceimagination and responsibilityfamilyviolence
Adaptations
  • [musical/theatre] Brutal Imagination (stage/theatrical adaptations)

Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems

2008 Poetry

A new-and-selected volume that surveys recurring themes across his career.

retrospectracemusic

Bibliography

  • Kartunes. Warthog Press. 1980.
  • Victims of the Latest Dance Craze: Poems. Ommation Press/Carnegie Mellon. 1986/1997.
  • BOOM, BOOM, BOOM: A Chapbook. State Street Press. 1988.
  • The Gathering of My Name. Carnegie Mellon University Press. 1991.
  • You Don't Miss Your Water: Poems. Henry Holt/Carnegie Mellon. 1995/2004.
  • The Autobiography of a Jukebox: Poems. Carnegie Mellon Press. 1997.
  • Brutal Imagination: Poems. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 2001.
  • Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems. Penguin. 2008.
  • The War Against the Obvious. Jacar Press.

Adaptations

  • You Don't Miss Your Water (musical/theatre collaboration with Deirdre Murray)
  • Running Man (theatrical collaboration)
  • Fangs (collaboration)
  • Brutal Imagination (stage/theatre adaptations)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Plain, accessible languageMusical rhythms influenced by blues and jazzColloquial, conversational poetic voice
Recurring Motifs
music (blues, jazz)perspectives of Black men and identityfamily and memoryviolence and social discrimination

Legacy

Cornelius Eady is a contemporary American poet known for musical verse and works addressing race and class. He co-founded the Cave Canem Foundation in 1996, significantly supporting Black poets. He has been a National Book Award finalist and recipient of multiple fellowships, and has had a long career as an educator.

Museums

  • Cornelius Eady Papers (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale) Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets (associated)

Archives

  • Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Cornelius Eady Papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Poems published in major magazines such as The New Yorker

Quotes

  • "What if that imaginary black man could talk? What would he have told us?"
    Source: Brutal Imagination (poetry collection) (2001)

Trivia

  • Co-founded the Cave Canem Foundation with Toi Derricotte in 1996.
  • Brutal Imagination was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award in Poetry.
  • Recipient of multiple fellowships (Guggenheim, Rockefeller, NEA, etc.).
  • Married to novelist Sarah Micklem.
  • His poetry frequently incorporates rhythms and influences from blues and jazz.