Lucille Clifton (1936–2010)
Author of Everett Anderson's Goodbye
About the Author
Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York on June 27, 1936. She was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. She attended Howard University, where she majored in drama, for two years before deciding that she would rather write poetry. Her first poetry collection Good Times was show more published in 1969. During her lifetime, she wrote 11 books of poetry and 20 children's books. She won numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King Award for Everett Anderson's Good-bye in 1984, the National Book Award for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 in 2001, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize award in 2007. She was the Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1979 to 1985. She died after a long battle with cancer and other illnesses on February 13, 2010 at the age of 73. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of Squaw Valley Community of Writers
Series
Works by Lucille Clifton
How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton (American Poets Continuum Series, 180) (2020) 50 copies
Divining Poets: Clifton: A Quotable Deck from Turtle Point Press (Divining Poets: A Quotable Deck from Turtle Point… (2021) 1 copy
An ordinary woman 1 copy
Homage to My Hips 1 copy
sorrows 1 copy
Associated Works
From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (2002) — Contributor — 172 copies
Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient… (1992) — Contributor — 159 copies
Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers (1994) — Contributor — 121 copies
In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry (1656) — Contributor — 100 copies
Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep: An Anthology of Poetry by African Americans Since 1945 (1994) — Contributor — 89 copies
The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them (2016) — Contributor — 63 copies
Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry (2013) — Contributor — 42 copies
The Roads from Bethlehem: Christmas Literature from Writers Ancient and Modern (1993) — Contributor — 29 copies
Beat the Drum, Independence Day Has Come: Poems for the Fourth of July (1977) — Contributor — 27 copies
What God Is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color (2019) — Contributor — 18 copies
Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology (2024) — Contributor — 15 copies
Eleven More American Women Poets in the 21st Century: Poetics Across North America (2012) — Contributor — 11 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Clifton, Thelma Lucille Sayles
- Other names
- Clifton, Lucille
- Birthdate
- 1936-06-27
- Date of death
- 2010-02-13
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Depew, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Places of residence
- Depew, New York, USA (birth)
New York, USA
Columbia, Maryland, USA - Education
- Howard University (Washington, DC, age 16)
Fredonia State Teachers College (1955) - Occupations
- poet
author
children's book author
writer in residence (Coppin State College ∙ Baltimore ∙ Maryland ∙ 1971)
Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (1999)
poet laureate (State of Maryland ∙ 1979-1982) (show all 9)
Distinguished Professor of Humanities (St. Mary's College of Maryland)
claims clerk (New York State Division of Employment ∙ Buffalo ∙ 1958-1960)
literature assistant (Office of Education ∙ Washington ∙ D.C. ∙ 1960-1971) - Awards and honors
- Shelley Memorial Award (1991/1992)
Lannan Literary Award (Poetry ∙ 1996)
National Book Award (2000)
Pulitzer Prize Nomination (1987)
University of Massachusetts Press Juniper Prize (1980)
Emmy Award from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (show all 10)
two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
YM-YWHA Poetry Center Discovery Award
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2007)
Frost Medal (2010) - Short biography
- Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York. Named after her great-grandmother who, according to her father, was the first black woman to be legally hanged in the state of Virginia, she was raised with two half-sisters and a brother. Growing up, she recalls hearing the word 'nigger'. She knew that it wasn't her, and she thought, "'Well, I'll have to suspect everything they say, won't I?' And I've always been a very curious person, interested in a lot of things, and, so, in writing, I never thought I would be a poet" (qtd in Davis).
Clifton was awarded a scholarship to Howard University, becoming the first person in her family to finish high school and consider college, entering as a drama major. After two years she lost her scholarship and told her father, "I don't need that stuff. I'm going to write poems. I can do what I want to do! I'm from Dahomey women!" It was at this point that Clifton's writing began.
In a writer's group she met a man named Ishmael Reed, who showed some of her poems to Langston Hughes. He was the first to publish Clifton, premiering her work in the anthology Poetry of the Negro. Her first complete book of poems, Good Times, was published in 1969. She has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her first children's book, Some of the Days of Everett Anderson (1970), launched her into writing children's stories. Clifton was recently interviewed as part of "The Language of Life," with Bill Moyers, a major video series exploring the American phenomenon of public poetry. She has been honored as Poet Laureate of Maryland, and currently teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland.
Lucille's poetry is straightforward and makes use of vernacular speech. Her poems contain compassion and a high level of emotion, which is uniquely American. Her African roots and her personal history have become the basis of her writing. Other common themes include family, death, birth, and religion. She says, "the proper subject matter for poetry is life" (qtd in Davis). She asserts that the reason to write poetry is to assert the importance of being human.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/ent...
Members
Reviews
The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010… by Lucille Clifton
Clifton experienced so much darkness in her life, and it comes vividly through in her poetry. While she is brilliant, I cannot enjoy very much of her work in a short amount of time. Too much pain.
Somehow Blessing the Boats was the first Lucille Clifton collection I have read, which is EMBARRASSING, as I have been intending to read her for ages (and have certainly read isolated poems of hers here and there.)
Her writing is spare and accessible and razor sharp, exemplified by a poem like "why some people be mad at me sometimes"
I didn't quite fall all the way in love with these, which is I think largely because this is a collection from collections (which I somehow didn't realize when I picked this up). These cherry-picked "best of" collections many have isolated favorites, but I almost always prefer encountering the poems in their home collections, like listening to songs in their original albums rather than a "Best Of" CD. The context is missing.
I will have to pick up one of those soon.… (more)
Her writing is spare and accessible and razor sharp, exemplified by a poem like "why some people be mad at me sometimes"
they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories
and i keep on remembering
mine
I didn't quite fall all the way in love with these, which is I think largely because this is a collection from collections (which I somehow didn't realize when I picked this up). These cherry-picked "best of" collections many have isolated favorites, but I almost always prefer encountering the poems in their home collections, like listening to songs in their original albums rather than a "Best Of" CD. The context is missing.
I will have to pick up one of those soon.… (more)
A young girl is convinced everyone in her family makes promises to her that only she remembers
Lucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from New York.
Common topics in her poetry include the celebration of her African American heritage,
and feminist themes, with particular emphasis on the female body
Good Times, her first book of poems, was published in 1969. She has since
been honored as Maryland's Poet Laureate.
Lucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from New York.
Common topics in her poetry include the celebration of her African American heritage,
and feminist themes, with particular emphasis on the female body
Good Times, her first book of poems, was published in 1969. She has since
been honored as Maryland's Poet Laureate.
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