Erica Dawson 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 ...

and professor. She is the author of three poetry collections.

Biography

Dawson grew up in Columbia, Maryland. After earning a B.A. degree at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, she earned a Ph.D. at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

as the Elliston Fellow in Poetry. Dawson's first poetry collection, ''Big-Eyed Afraid'' (Waywiser Press, 2007), was selected for the 2006

Anthony Hecht Anthony Evan Hecht (January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004) was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, an ...

Poetry Prize by

Mary Jo Salter Mary Jo Salter (born August 15, 1954) is an American poet, a co-editor of The ''Norton Anthology of Poetry'' and a professor in the Writing Seminars program at Johns Hopkins University. Life Salter was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was r ...

and was named Best Debut of 2007 by the ''

Contemporary Poetry Review Garrick Davis (born 1971 in Los Angeles) is an American poet and critic. He was Poetry Editor of ''First Things'' magazine from 2020 until 2021. Career Davis is the founding editor of the ''Contemporary Poetry Review'', the largest online arch ...

''. Her second collection, ''The Small Blades Hurt'' (Measure Press, 2014), won the 2016

Poets' Prize The Poets' Prize is awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year. The $3000 annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who ...

. A third collection, ''When Rap Spoke Straight to God'', was published by

Tin House Books ''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...

in 2018. Dawson's poems have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including '' Barrow Street'', '' Blackbird'', and ''

The Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...

'' 2008, 2012, and 2015. Dawson is known for her innovative use of traditional forms. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

she was alleged by A.E. Stallings to have achieved "something like rock star status" among fellow

New Formalist ''The New Formalist'' was a United States-based literary periodical published (since 2001) monthly in electronic form and once a year in print form. Distributed by ''The New Formalist Press'' and edited by Leo Yankevich, it published many of th ...

poets and poetry fans. She lives in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, where she directs the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

's Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing and serves as poetry editor of the ''

Tampa Review ''Tampa Review'' is a literary magazine produced at The University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. It was founded in 1964 as the ''Tampa Poetry Review'' and changed to its current name in 1988."Tampa Review wins award series" by Gina Vivinetto, ''St ...

''.

References

1979 births Poets from Maryland People from Columbia, Maryland Writers from Tampa, Florida Johns Hopkins University alumni Ohio State University alumni University of Cincinnati alumni Living people American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century translators 21st-century American women writers African-American poets Formalist poets 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers African-American women writers