Awards

  • The PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry (2012)
  • Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement (2012)
  • Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania (2009)
  • Distinguished Pioneering of the Arts Award from the United Black Artists
  • Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers, Inc. (2008)
  • The Distinguished Alumni/Alumnae Award from New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science (2008)
  • The Elizabeth Kray Award for Service to Poetry from Poets House (2008)
  • The Rockefeller Foundation, fellowship (2006)
  • The Guggenheim Foundation, fellowship (2004)
  • The Pushcart Prize (1998)
  • The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The Black Notebooks (1997)
  • The Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award in nonfiction, The Black Notebooks (1997)
  • Nominated for the PEN Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir, The Black Notebooks (1997)
  • New York Times Notable Book of the Year, The Black Notebooks (1997)
  • Winner of the 1998 Paterson Poetry Prize, Tender (1997)
  • The National Endowment for the Arts, fellowship in poetry (1990)
  • The Columbia Book Award from the Poetry Committee Book of the Greater Washington, D.C., Captivity (1989)
  • The Pushcart Prize (1989)
  • The National Endowment for the Arts, fellowship in poetry (1985)
  • The Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from Poetry Society of America.