Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine
Rankine in 2016
Rankine in 2016
Born (1963-09-04) September 4, 1963 (age 61)[1]
Kingston, Jamaica
OccupationProfessor
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWilliams College (BA)
Columbia University (MFA)
GenrePoetry; Playwright
Notable awardsMacArthur Fellow
SpouseJohn Lucas
Website
claudiarankine.com

Claudia Rankine (/ˈræŋkɪn/; born September 4, 1963[1]) is an American poet, essayist, playwright and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays.

Her book of poetry, Citizen: An American Lyric, won the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Award,[2] the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award[3] in Poetry (the first book in the award's history to be nominated in both poetry and criticism), the 2015 Forward Prize for Best Collection, the 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry, the 2015 NAACP Image Award in poetry, the 2015 PEN Open Book Award, the 2015 PEN American Center USA Literary Award, the 2015 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2015 VIDA Literary Award. Citizen was also a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award and the 2015 T. S. Eliot Prize. It is the only poetry book to be a New York Times bestseller in the nonfiction category.

Rankine's numerous awards and honors include the 2014 Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2014 Jackson Poetry Prize, and the 2014 Lannan Foundation Literary Award. In 2005, she was awarded the Academy Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement by the Academy of American Poets. In 2013, she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.[4] She is a 2016 United States Artist Zell Fellow and a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. In 2020, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Rankine previously taught at Pomona College. She was the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University.[5] In 2021, she joined the New York University Creative Writing Program as a Professor.[6]

  1. ^ a b Rankine, Claudia (June 22, 2015). "The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kellogg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "National Book Critics Circle Announces Award Winners for Publishing Year 2014" Archived February 15, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Critical Mass, March 12, 2015.
  4. ^ "Claudia Rankine Archived September 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine "Poets.org"
  5. ^ "Claudia Rankine | English". english.yale.edu. Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  6. ^ "Claudia Rankine". as.nyu.edu. Retrieved August 1, 2023.