Aldon Lynn Nielsen (born 1950 Grand Island, Nebraska) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, and literary critic.

Life

He was raised in the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he graduated from the Federal City College and from the

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

, with a Ph.D. He taught at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

, the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

and

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

. He is the George and Barbara Kelly Professor of American Literature in the Pennsylvania State University. He lives in Pennsylvania and California, where his wife, Anna Everett, teaches at U.C. Santa Barbara. Nielsen loves to wear hats and owns several tablets.

Awards

* Larry Neal Award for poetry * two Gertrude Stein Awards for innovation. * SAMLA Studies Prize, a Myers Citation and the Kayden Award for best book in the humanities, for ''Reading Race'' * Josephine Miles Award, for ''Integral Music: Languages of African American Innovation'' *

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

for ''Don't deny my name: words and music and the black intellectual tradition'' * Darwin Turner Award

Works

Poetry

* ''Heat Strings'' * ''Evacuation Routes'', Score, 1994 * * * * * * * *

Criticism

* (reprint) * * * * * ''Writing between the Lines'' * * Integral Music: Languages of African American Innovation *

As editor

* *

Anthologies

* *

References

External links

"Author's blog"
1948 births American male poets American literary critics Living people University of the District of Columbia alumni George Washington University alumni Howard University faculty San Jose State University faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty Loyola Marymount University faculty Pennsylvania State University faculty People from Grand Island, Nebraska PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners American Book Award winners American male non-fiction writers {{US-poet-stub