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For Immediate Release: April 17, 2006
UMW'S CLAUDIA EMERSON WINS 2006 PULITZER PRIZE IN POETRY
Fredericksburg, Va. Claudia Emerson, associate professor of English at the University of Mary Washington, has been named recipient of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. The announcement was made today by the Pulitzer Prize Board, which is headquartered at Columbia University.
Emerson was awarded the prize in recognition of her 2005 book, titled Late Wife, an autobiographical account of the break-up of her 19-year marriage and the start of her life with a new husband. Her publisher, Louisiana State University Press, nominated her for the recognition.
This is her third book of poetry. Her other works are Pharaoh, Pharaoh and Pinion, An Elegy. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, Crazyhorse, The Louisville Review, New England Review and other journals.
"This is a significant honor, for both Claudia and for the University of Mary Washington," commented UMW President William M. Anderson, Jr. "It has been apparent to anyone who has taken one of her classes or heard a reading from her works that Claudia is an extraordinary writer, poet and teacher. It is gratifying to have these accomplishments acknowledged and recognized by the Pulitzer Committee."
More than 2,000 entries are submitted each year and only 21 Pulitzer Prize awards are typically made. The Prize carries with it a $10,000 cash award and it is presented each year at a ceremony in May at Columbia University. The award in poetry was established in 1922.
Emerson began her career at Mary Washington in 1998 teaching classes in composition and creative writing. It was during her first two semesters at Mary Washington that her 19-year marriage ended, which is chronicled in Late Wife.
She was born in Chatham, Va., in 1957. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Virginia in 1979 and her MFA in poetry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1991. She has taught at Washington and Lee University, Danville Community College and Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
In 1991 Emerson won the Associated Writing Program's Intro Award, as well as the Academy of American Poets Prize. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry, as well as a Virginia Commission for Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in poetry twice, in 1995 and 2002.
In 2005 she was awarded a Witter Bynner Fellowship, which carries a $10,000 cash prize from the Library of Congress. In 2003 she received the University of Mary Washington Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Award.
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