Natasha Trethewey

Natasha Trethewey is an American poet and professor renowned for her exploration of memory, history, and the complex racial legacy of the American South. She served two terms as the United States Poet Laureate and was the Poet Laureate of Mississippi, a rare dual honor. Her work, which often draws upon her own biracial heritage and the history of the Gulf Coast, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and has established her as a major voice in contemporary American literature.

Early life and education

Natasha Trethewey was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, to Eric Trethewey, a Canadian poet and professor, and Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough, a Mississippian social worker. Her parents' interracial marriage was illegal in Mississippi at the time of her birth under the state's anti-miscegenation laws. She spent her early years in Atlanta, where her mother was later tragically murdered by her stepfather, a formative trauma that would deeply influence her writing. Trethewey earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia, a Master of Arts from Hollins University, and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Career and academic appointments

Following her graduate studies, Trethewey began a distinguished academic career, holding teaching positions at Auburn University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She later joined the faculty of Emory University, where she is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing. Her tenure at Emory University coincided with her service as the U.S. Poet Laureate, a position to which she was appointed by the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington. In this role, she traveled extensively, giving readings and engaging with communities across the nation, and she also served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Poetry and literary themes

Trethewey's poetry is deeply engaged with historical memory, personal trauma, and the racial history of the United States. Her work frequently employs ekphrasis, responding to artworks and historical photographs, as seen in collections like Thrall. A central theme is the examination of biracial identity and the legacy of slavery in the American South, often focusing on forgotten figures and events, such as the Louisiana Native Guards, a Union Army regiment of African-American soldiers. Her elegies for her mother and her explorations of the Gulf Coast landscape are recurring motifs, blending the personal with the public and historical.

Major works and publications

Trethewey's debut collection, Domestic Work (2000), won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and established her voice. Her breakthrough came with Bellocq's Ophelia (2002), a verse narrative inspired by photographs from Storyville by E. J. Bellocq. The collection Native Guard (2006) earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, weaving together elegies for her mother with poems about the Louisiana Native Guards. Subsequent major works include Thrall (2012), which examines racial ideology through art and history, and the memoir Memorial Drive (2020), a prose exploration of her mother's murder and its aftermath. She has also published a volume of lectures, Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Awards and honors

Among her numerous accolades, Natasha Trethewey received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2007 for Native Guard. She was appointed the 19th United States Poet Laureate in 2012, serving two terms, and simultaneously served as the Poet Laureate of Mississippi from 2012 to 2016. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society. Other significant honors include the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Lillian Smith Book Award, and being named a Georgia Woman of Achievement. In 2017, she was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

Category:American poets Category:Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners Category:United States Poets Laureate