C.D. Wright

poet

Born in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas in 1949, C.D. Wright has developed a style of poetry all her own—both experimental and Southern, implicit in its lyrical utterance and yet grounded in an inherent sense of the unutterable. As Joel Brouwer recently wrote in the New York Times Book Review, "Wright belongs to a school of exactly one." Her poem "Lake Echo, Dear" showcases the explorative and image-based character of her work. She has published numerous books of poetry, including Steal Away: New and Selected Poems (2002); One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana (2003), with photographer Deborah Luster; and, most recently, Rising Hovering Falling (2008). "Poetry is a necessity of life," Wright has said. "It is a function of poetry to locate those zones inside us that would be free, and declare them so." Her various awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and a Robert Creeley Award. She and her husband, the poet Forrest Gander, edit Lost Roads Publishers. Wright teaches at Brown University near Providence, Rhode Island.