born Aug. 28, 1952, Akron, Ohio, U.S.
U.S. writer and teacher.
She studied writing at the University of Iowa and published the first of several chapbooks of her poetry in 1977. Her poems and short stories focus on the particulars of family life and personal struggle, addressing the larger dimensions of the African American experience primarily by indirection. Her poetry collections include Museum (1983), Thomas and Beulah (1986, Pulitzer Prize), Mother Love (1995), and On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999). She was poet laureate of the U.S. from 1993 to 1995.