Dr. Elizabeth Alexander has been selected as the inaugural poet to compose and read a poem for President-elect Obama’s inauguration on January 20^th, 2009. She is the 4^th poet in history to be so honored.*

Dr. Alexander is the recipient of many honors and grants; she was awarded the first annual “Jackson Poetry Prize” in 2007, and received the “Alphonse Fletcher, Sr. Fellowship” in 2005. She is the author of five books of poems, and was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. Presently, she is a professor of African American studies at Yale University

She is a founding Member of Cave Canem, North America’s premier home for black poetry. In 1996, along with the other co-founders, Dr. Alexander taught at Cave Canem’s first week-long writing retreat for African American poets; the first of its kind in the country. She has remained active in the organization, and served on the board of directors from 1997-2002. Dr. Alexander has taught at subsequent retreats with poets Rita Dove, Derek Walcott, and E. Ethelbert Miller. Additionally, she has lead regional writing workshops for emerging African American poets.

On January 20, she will join Aretha Franklin, Joseph E. Lowery, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill for this historical event.

According to elizabethalexander.net, she is a poet, essayist, playwright, and teacher, born in New York City; and raised in Washington DC. Dr. Alexander has degrees from Yale University and Boston University; she completed her PhD in English at the University of Pennsylvania.

Additionally, some of her other awards are a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, the George Kent Award, given by Gwendolyn Brooks, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Elizabeth Alexander’s awards and accomplishments are too numerous to list. For further information, please do visit her website - mentioned above.

*The other poets include Robert Frost, who read at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961; Maya Angelou, who read at William Jefferson Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, and Miller Williams, who read at the second inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton in 1997.