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UMW professor, already a Pulitzer Prize-winner, is named Virginia's poet laureate
Claudia Emerson was in her University of Mary Washington office preparing for fall classes when colleague Steve Watkins shouted down the hall, "You're the poet laureate!"
Emerson, who teaches in the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, had just been named to the honorary post by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. It wasn't entirely a surprise. "I had a clue this was coming," she said. But she'd been asked not to talk about it, and then she'd gotten caught up in other things. So yesterday afternoon, when Watkins yelled the news, she excitedly checked her e-mail for confirmation. There it was--the announcement from Kaine's office. As the news sank in, Emerson said she already has a few ideas for what to do in her two-year term as poet laureate. For one thing, she wants to showcase Virginia poets' works on a Web site. It's an idea from her predecessor as poet laureate, Mary Washington alumna Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda. "We'll see what happens," Emerson said. "It's not like I have an office in Richmond I have to go to tomorrow." Emerson already has a schedule full of speaking commitments. She's been in high demand since 2006, when she won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection "Late Wife." The latest honor comes as Emerson and colleagues Watkins, Warren Rochelle and Colin Rafferty prepare to offer a new concentration on creative writing within the English major. Emerson also has a new book of poetry, "Figure Studies," to be published in October by the Louisiana State University press. Among her other awards are fellowships from the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts, according to the LSU Press Web site. Emerson is the Arrington Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Mary Washington, where she has taught since 1998. She said she's delighted with her new role as laureate. "I'm quite honored and very excited," she said. "I'll try to be a good representative for poetry and Fredericksburg and our wonderful state." Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Date published: 8/27/2008
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