Ruby Altizer Roberts (April 22, 1907 – May 24, 2004) was a writer and the first female
Poet Laureate of Virginia
The position of Poet Laureate of Virginia was established December 18, 1936 by the Virginia General Assembly.
Originally, the Poet Laureate of Virginia was appointed without outside consultation by the General Assembly, usually for one year, in a ...
.
Personal life
Roberts was born in
Alum Ridge, Virginia in 1907. When she was still a child her family moved to
Cambria, Virginia, where she spent most of the rest of her life. She was married to highway contractor Laurence Roberts from 1927 until his death in 1966; the couple had one daughter.
Writing
Early in her career Roberts published two collections of poetry, ''Forever Is Too Long'' (1946) and ''Command the Stars'' (1948). Her poems also appeared in magazines and in newspapers such as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. In 1952 she became editor of
traditional 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 in a ...
journal ''
The Lyric'', a position she held for the next 25 years.
Her prose works consist of a genealogical history, three memoirs, and the children's book ''The Story of Buzzy Bee'' (1982).
Awards and recognition
Roberts received a number of awards and honours in connection with her writing. In 1950 she was named the
Poet Laureate of Virginia
The position of Poet Laureate of Virginia was established December 18, 1936 by the Virginia General Assembly.
Originally, the Poet Laureate of Virginia was appointed without outside consultation by the General Assembly, usually for one year, in a ...
; she was the first woman to win the award.
In 1961 she was conferred an honorary humanities doctorate by the
College of William & Mary in Virginia
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...
.
She became the only poet to hold the title "poet laureate emeritus of Virginia," which she was awarded by the
General Assembly of Virginia
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1619 ...
in 1992.
Bibliography
* ''Emera Altizer and his Descendants, with Sketches of Connected Families'' (with Rosa Altizer Bray, 1937)
* ''Forever is Too Long'', 1946
* ''Command the Stars'' (illustrated by Don Blanding, 1948)
* ''The Way it Was'' (1979)
* ''The Story of Buzzy Bee'' (illustrated by Jeanne Altizer Barley, 1982)
* ''Look Down at the Stars'' (1994)
* ''The Way it is'' (1994)
Further reading
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*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Ruby Altizer
1907 births
2004 deaths
Poets from Virginia
People from Floyd County, Virginia
People from Montgomery County, Virginia
Poets Laureate of Virginia
American women poets
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women