University News | June 7, 2012

Radcliffe fellow Trethewey named poet laureate

Natasha Trethewey was a 2001 Radcliffe Institute Fellow.

Natasha Trethewey, a 2001 Radcliffe Institute Fellow, has been named poet laureate of the United States. According to the announcement from the Library of Congress, quoting James H. Billington, the current Librarian of Congress,

Natasha Trethewey is an outstanding poet/historian in the mold of Robert Penn Warren, our first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Her poems dig beneath the surface of history—personal or communal, from childhood or from a century ago—to explore the human struggles that we all face.

Read an appreciation of her work from The New York Times. Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her third collection, Native Guard.

You might also like

Stone building with tall columns, steps leading up, and a flag atop under a cloudy sky.

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

Red brick building with large windows and greenery, set against a bright blue sky.

After a final round of layoffs, University leaders say 165 staff jobs were eliminated across the division.

University Hall with steps and the John Harvard statue, surrounded by trees and a grassy lawn.

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

Most popular

A busy classroom filled with students working at computers, colorful decor, and a bright atmosphere.

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

Silhouette of a head filled with a street map, with a taxi driving into the brain

Why Taxi Drivers Don’t Die of Alzheimer’s

Explaining taxi and ambulance drivers’ protection against Alzheimer’s disease.

A woman with long hair stands confidently with crossed arms next to a pickup truck.

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.

Explore More From Current Issue

Smiling woman stands beside a large skull in a display cabinet.

Faculty

From competing in youth gymnastics to studying tetrapods, the Harvard curator has always chased her curiosity.

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

Arts & Culture

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

A woman with curly blonde hair sits casually against a stone wall, wearing a black top and jeans.

Chloe Chapin trains her Broadway costume designer’s eye on the history of men’s fashion.