Angela Jackson (born July 25, 1951) 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 writte ...

, playwright, and novelist based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Jackson became the Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020.

Biography

Angela Jackson was born in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...

, the fifth of nine children,Angela Jackson biography
at Poetry Foundation. but grew up on the South Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where her father, George Jackson, Sr, and mother, Angeline Robinson Jackson, moved. Jackson lives and works in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Education

In 1977, she graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, where she won an

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

Award, and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

with an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean studies. Her novels ''Where I Must Go'' and ''Roads, Where There Are No Roads'' were inspired by her experiences at Northwestern.

Career

She joined the

Organization of Black American Culture The Organization of Black American Culture (OBA-C) (pronounced ''Oh-bah-see'') was conceived during the era of the Civil Rights Movement by Hoyt W. Fuller as a collective of African-American writers, artists, historians, educators, intellectuals, ...

(OBAC) with young black writers such as Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee), Carolyn Rodgers, Sterling Plumpp, and was editor of the journal ''Nommo''.

Personal life

Jackson is Catholic.

Awards

* 1973: Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Award * 1974:

Award from Northwestern University * 1979: Illinois Art Council Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction * 1980:

National Endowment For the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction * 1984: Hoyt W. Fuller Award for Literary Excellence * 1985:

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 ...

* 1984: DuSable Museum Writers Seminar Poetry Prize * 1984:

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

for Poetry * 1989: ETA Gala Award * 1996: Illinois Authors Literary Heritage Award * Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards * five for fiction and one for poetry; The

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

Award * ''Chicago Sun-Times'' Friends of Literature Book of the Year Award * 2000: Illinois Art Council Creative Writing Fellowship in Playwriting * 2002:

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

of the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

* 2008: American Book Award

Works

Poetry

"VooDoo/Love Magic", ''Poetry Foundation''
* * The Greenville Club, 1977 (chapbook) * * * *

Plays

* ''Witness!'', 1970 * ''Shango Diaspora: An African American Myth of Womanhood and Love'', 1980 * Also known as ''When the Wind Blows'' * ''Lightfoot: The Crystal Stair''

Novels

* ''Treemont Stone'' *

Memoir

* ''Apprenticeship in the House of Cowrie Shells''

Anthologies

* *

References

External links

Angela Jackson Bio
from Illinois Poet Laureate * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Angela 1951 births Living people Northwestern University alumni University of Chicago alumni People from Greenville, Mississippi Poets from Illinois Poets Laureate of Illinois 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers American Book Award winners Novelists from Illinois African-American Catholics 21st-century American women writers 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers African-American women writers