Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate, is the recipient of many honors, among them the Pulitzer Prize, the National Humanities Medal, the Heinz Award, and the NAACP Great American Artist Award. Among her publications are the novel Through the Ivory Gate, the drama The Darker Face of the Earth, and numerous poetry collections—most recently American Smooth and On the Bus with Rosa Parks. She is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia.
Additional biographical information is available on the Web at www.RitaDovePoetry.com.