Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995, the first African American to hold the position. Born in Akron, Ohio, she received her BA from Miami University and her MFA from the University of Iowa. Her collection Thomas and Beulah (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1986) won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She is the Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Virginia. Her honors include the 1996 National Humanities Medal, the 2011 National Medal of Arts, and the PEN/Malamud Award.
