Natasha Trethewey

When people mention practitioners of the written word, Natasha Trethewey is often one of the first authors to come to mind. A graduate of Hollins University, Columbia University and Harvard University, Trethewey is a former Poet Laureate of the United States and a current professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University. She’s the author of four collections of poetry — Domestic Work, Bellocq’s Ophelia, Native Guard and Thrall — that examine the complexities of being African American and Southern, even during times of racial injustice and social desecration. Her work also delves into themes of personal identity, history and family.

Trethewey’s experiences and background can be seen throughout her writing. Born in Gulfport, Mississippi and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Trethewey is the daughter of poet and academic Eric Trethewey and social worker Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough. Growing up, her parents’ interracial marriage was heavily regulated by state laws, and she often pondered the oppressive nature of racism and its effects. This consideration of suffering inspired much of Trethewey’s work — including her debut collection, Domestic Work, which addresses the current and previous struggles of African American women.

Natasha Trethewey’s second collection of poems, Bellocq’s Ophelia, was published in 2002 and won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for best book by an African American poet. The poems in this volume focus on a number of topics, including feminism, love, nature and Southern identity. One of the work’s most pivotal pieces, “Southern History,” details Trethewey’s personal journey as a woman of color within the Deep South’s confines and explores injustices experienced by generations of African Americans.

Trethewey’s next collection, Native Guard, was published in 2006 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry that same year. Native Guard is thematically organized, and each poem considers the lives of African American soldiers in the Civil War-era Louisiana Native Guards. Despite the book’s somber tone, Trethewey was able to find joy in the bond African American men had with one another and in taking back “some of the citizenship that had been taken away,” even if only in her words.

Trethewey’s latest collection, Thrall, was published in 2012 and consists of reflections on “love and betrayal, past and present, family and connection,” as she has noted in interviews and lectures. While the book remains a collection of poetry, Trethewey includes a prose essay in the last section. The essay, “Elegy,” is a reflection and rededication to her deceased mother, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough, who appears in numerous works throughout Trethewey’s career.

Through the years, Natasha Trethewey has become an iconic author whose work is renowned and studied throughout the writing world. Social issues discussed in her art continually resonates with readers, making Trethewey’s words both refreshingly modern and intimately personal. Despite her success though, Trethewey implies that she will never reach the beautiful heights of poetry like her many influences, people like Langston Hughes, W.B. Yeats, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. It is evident, however, that Trethewey’s unique voice and vision have helped to redefine the beauty of literature and inspire generations of readers.