Marilyn Nelson (born 1946) is an American poet, translator and childrens' book author. She is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks.
Nelson was born on April 26, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio to Melvin M. Nelson, a U.S. serviceman in the Air Force, and Johnnie Mitchell Nelson, a teacher. She was brought up living on military bases, and began writing while in elementary school. She earned her B.A. from the University of California-Davis, and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1979.
She is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Connecticut and the founder and director of Soul Mountain Retreat. She was poet laureate of the State of Connecticut from 2001-2006.
Her poetry collections include The Homeplace (Louisiana State University Press), which won the 1992 Annisfield-Wolf Award, and was a finalist for the 1991 National Book Award; and The Fields Of Praise: New And Selected Poems (Louisiana State University Press), won the 1998 Poets' Prize, and was a finalist for the 1997 National Book Award. Her honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, and a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship.
Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World (Dial Books, 2009, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)
The Freedom Business: Including A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa (Front Street, 2008, with art by Deborah Dancy)
A Wreath for Emmett Till (Houghton Mifflin, 2005, illustrated by Philippe Lardy)
The Cachoeira Tales, and Other Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 2005)
Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem (Front Street, 2004, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland)
Carver, a Life in Poems (Front Street, 2001)
The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 1997)
Magnificat (Louisiana State University Press, 1994)
The Homeplace (Louisiana State University Press, 1990)
Mama's Promises (Louisiana State University Press, 1985)
For the Body (Louisiana State University Press, 1978)
Chapbooks
She-Devil Circus (Aralia Press, 2001)
Triolets for Triolet (Curbstone Press, 2001)
Partial Truth (The Kutenai Press, 1992)
Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith (Lyme Historical Society, Florence Griswold Museum, 2006, illustrated by American paintings from the Florence Griswold Museum)
Collaborative Books
Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color (Wordsong, 2007, with Elizabeth Alexander, illustrated by Floyd Cooper)
Pemba’s Song : A Ghost Story (Scholastic Press, 2008, with Tonya Hegamin)
The Cat Walked Through the Casserole (Carolrhoda Books, 1984, with Pamela Espeland, various illustrators)
Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
Translations
The Ladder by Halfdan Rasmussen (translated from Danish, Candlewick, 2006, illustrated by Pierre Pratt)
The Thirteenth Month by Inge Pedersen (translated from Danish, Oberlin College Press, 2005)
Hecuba by Euripedes, in Euripedes I, Penn Greek Drama Series (translated from earlier English translations, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998)
Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children' by Halfdan Rasmussen (translated from Danish, Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
'Books for Young Children
Snook Alone (Candlewick, 2010, illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering)
Beautiful Ballerina (Scholastic Press, 2009, photographs by Susan Kuklin)
The Ladder by Halfdan Rasmussen (Candlewick, 2006)
The Cat Walked Through the Casserole (Carolrhoda Books, 1984)
Hundreds of Hens and other poems for children by Halfdan Rasmussen (Black Willow Press, 1982, with Pamela Espeland, illustrations by D.M. Robinson)
