Carol Muske-Dukes (born 1945 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and professor, and the former

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

(2008–2011). Her most recent book of poetry, ''Sparrow'' (Random House, 2003), chronicling the love and loss of Muske-Dukes’ late husband, actor David Dukes, was a National Book Award finalist.

Life

Muske-Dukes grew up in

Forest Lake, Minnesota Forest Lake is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States, located 27 miles northeast of Saint Paul. The population was 20,611 at the 2020 census. The 2021 population is 20,608. History Forest Lake began as a stop on the St. Paul ...

. She received B.A. English from

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

in 1967, and her M.A. in 1970 from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

. She has taught in the graduate writing programs at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

, the

University of California at Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

, and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. She is one of the founding members of the

USC PhD in Creative Writing & Literature The academics of the University of Southern California center on The College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, the Graduate School, and its 17 professional schools. Overview USC is a member of the Association of American Universities, joining in 196 ...

, where she currently teaches. She has a daughter, Annie Muske-Dukes, who graduated from USC in May 2005, and she is the widow of actor

David Dukes David Coleman Dukes (June 6, 1945 – October 9, 2000) was an American character actor. He had a long career in films, appearing in 35. Dukes starred in the miniseries '' The Winds of War'' and '' War and Remembrance'', and he was a frequent tel ...

, who died in 2000. In addition to her seven books of poetry, she has published four novels, the most recent of which, ''Channeling Mark Twain'' (2007), is about a woman poet who teaches poetry at a women's detention facility, just as the author herself did and the perspectives she gains from the poetry her students write. Her work has appeared in ''Antaeus'', ''Ploughshares'', ''Paris Review'', and ''The New Yorker.''

Awards

* 1999

Witter Bynner Fellowship Witter Bynner Fellowships are administered by the Library of Congress and sponsored by the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, an organization that provides grant support for poetry programs through nonprofit organizations. Fellows are chosen by t ...

* 1981 Guggenheim Fellowship
* 1979 Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award of the Poetry Society of America *

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 ...

Fellowship in Poetry * Ingram Merrill grant

Published works

Poetry collections * Blue Rose. Penguin Books. April 3, 2018 * Twin Cities. Penguin Books. May 31, 2011 * * * * * * * Collaborative works * Novels * * * * Essay collections * * ''Women & Poetry: Truth, Autobiography, and the Shape of the Self'' (University of Michigan Press, 1997) Anthologies * * * *

References

Sources

Library of Congress Online Catalog : Carol Muske-Dukes

External links

Author Website

Random House : Author Page : Carol Muske-Dukes

Audio: NPR ''Fresh Air'' : Interview: ''Carol Muske-Dukes, Channeling Mark Twain''

Audio: ''Bookworm'' : Michael Silverblatt Interviews Carol-Muske-Dukes About ''Channeling Mark Twain'' : Dec. 20, 2007

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muske-Dukes, Carol 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Columbia University faculty Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota 1945 births Living people Poets from California Creighton University alumni San Francisco State University alumni Poets from Minnesota National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Poets Laureate of California American women poets American women essayists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists Novelists from Minnesota University of Southern California faculty