Rita Dove

Anybody who is currently involved in the world of literature or literary achievements cannot possibly escape hearing the name "Rita Dove." In October of 1993, Ms. Dove's poem Lady Freedom Among Us was published in a limited edition by Janus Press and became the 4 millionth piece collected by the University of Virginia Libraries. In 1994, she read the same poem at the Capitol building to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Capitol and the restoration of the Freedom Statue, which adorns the roof of the Capitol Building. This alone should be enough to prove that Rita Dove is probably one of the most accomplished writers in the world today

Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952 to Ray and Elvira Dove. Rita's father was the first black research chemist, who broke the race barrier in the tire industry. In 1970, a young Ms. Dove was one of the hundred most outstanding high school graduates in the United States and was invited to the White House to meet President Nixon as a Presidential Scholar. She then attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio as a National Achievement Scholar. Ms. Dove graduated summa cum laude in 1973 with a degree in English before traveling to Germany in order to enroll in Universität Tübingen as a Fulbright Scholar for two semesters. She then returned to join the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop where she met German writer Fred Viebahn, who was a fellow Fulbright in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program that year. Ms. Dove earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977 before marrying Fred in 1979. Their daughter Aviva Chantal Tamu Dove-Viebahn was born in 1983, who graduated from Mary Baldwin College with a B.A in theatre and biochemistry in 2001 before receiving her M.A in art history from the University of Virginia in 2003.

Magazines and anthologies had already begun promoting Ms. Dove's career and earning her a national spotlight before she published her first collection of poems The Yellow House...