Cave Canem Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) organization established to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 poets in Master of Fine Arts

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 (MFA) programs and writing workshop

Writing Workshop

Writing Workshop is a method of writing instruction developed by Lucy Calkins and educators involved in the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University in New York City, New York. . This method of instruction focuses on the goal of fostering lifelong writers...

s across the United States. It was founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte

Toi Derricotte

Toi Derricotte is an American poet and a professor of writing at University of Pittsburgh.At Wayne State University she earned a B.A. in 1965 and an M.A...

 and Cornelius Eady

Cornelius Eady

Cornelius Eady is an American poet focusing largely on matters of race and society, particularly the trials of the African-American race in the United States. His poetry often centers around jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questions of race and class...

 and is based in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York.

According to the foundation's mission statement, Cave Canem "is a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets." Cave Canem sponsors several programs, including an annual summer fellows' retreat, regional workshops, first- and second-book poetry prizes, anthology publication and national readings and panels. The organization has also published two anthologies, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade, edited by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady (University of Michigan Press, 2006), and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, edited by Nikky Finney (The University of Georgia Press, 2007).

History

Founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady, Cave Canem Foundation began as a week-long writing retreat for selected African American poets at Mount St. Alphonsus Conference Center in Esopus, New York

Esopus, New York

Esopus is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 9,331 at the 2000 census. The name comes from the local Indian tribe and means "high banks."...

. Since then, Cave Canem "has grown from an initial gathering of 26 poets to become an influential movement with a renowned faculty and a high-achieving national fellowship" of over 300.

Retreat

Currently held annually at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, commonly referred to as Pitt-Greensburg or UPG, is a four-year, baccalaureate degree-granting, regional residential campus of the University of Pittsburgh located in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1963, UPG was granted...

, Pennsylvania, Cave Canem’s tuition-free retreat comprises a week of faculty-led writing workshops and poetry readings for African American poets. Accepted applicants (fellows) are invited to participate for a maximum of three summers within a five year period. Some faculty include inaugural poet, Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander (poet)

Elizabeth Alexander is an American poet, essayist, playwright, and a university professor.-Early life:Alexander was born in Harlem, New York City and grew up in Washington D.C. She is the daughter of former United States Secretary of the Army and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairman...

; Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 winner, Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly...

; and National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 finalists, Patricia Smith and Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis....

.

Book Prizes

Cave Canem Foundation sponsors two annual book prizes: the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, established in 1999, awarded to an exceptional first book by an African American poet and published by the University of Pittsburgh Press

University of Pittsburgh Press

The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American university press, part of the University of Pittsburgh. The university and the press are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States....

; and the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize, a second-book award established in 2009 that “celebrates and publishes works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence” by African American poets.

Legacy Conversations

Established in 2001, these moderated discussions feature poets and scholars who "have played historic roles in African American poetry." Participants have included Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott

Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...

, Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 winner Rita Dove

Rita Dove

Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate"...

, and poet and activist Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...

.

Poets on Craft Series

Launched in 2008, Poets on Craft features “award-winning poets in the early-to-middle stages of their careers. Poets meet in moderated conversation, discussing aesthetics, the role of the contemporary poet and other topical issues.” Participants have included National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, Major Jackson

Major Jackson

Major Jackson is an American poet and professor. He is the author of three collections of poetry: Holding Company and Hoops Major Jackson (born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American poet and professor. He is the author of three collections of poetry: Holding Company (W.W. Norton, 2010)...

, and Walt Whitman Award winner, Suji Kwock Kim

Suji Kwock Kim

-Life:She graduated from Yale College; the Iowa Writers' Workshop; Seoul National University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar; and Stanford University, where she was a Stegner Fellow....

.

Regional Workshops

Established in 1999, workshops for emerging poets of color are held semi-annually in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and, more recently, in Columbia, South Carolina in partnership with the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. Instructors have included former Poet Laureate of Connecticut, Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson is an American poet, translator and children's book author. She is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks.-Early life:...

, Whiting Writers' Award

Whiting Writers' Award

The Whiting Writers' Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and has been presented since 1985. As of 2007, winners receive US $50,000.-External links:**...

 winner Tyehimba Jess

Tyehimba Jess

Tyehimba Jess is an American poet.-Life:He graduated from the University of Chicago, and New York University, with an MFA. He teaches poetry and fiction at CUNY College of Staten Island and is the faculty adviser for Caesura, the university's literary arts magazine.His work appeared in Soul...

, and American Book Award

American Book Award

The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

 winner, Kimiko Hahn

Kimiko Hahn

Kimiko Hahn is an American poet and instructor of poetry.-Personal:Hahn received a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and an M.A...

.

Former Fellows (Notable Partial List)

Opal Palmer Adisa

Opal Palmer Adisa

Opal Palmer Adisa is a Jamaica-born writer, artist and teacher. Since 1993, Opal Palmer Adisa has taught literature and served as Chair of the Ethnic Studies/Cultural Diversity Program at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Dr. Adisa has two masters degrees from San Francisco...

,
Samiya Bashir

Samiya Bashir

Samiya Bashir is an African American poet and author of two full-length collections of poetry.-Life and career:Bashir is the daughter of an African American mother and a first generation immigrant from Somalia...

,
Reginald Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts is an American poet, memoirist, and teacher. He is author of A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison , and Shahid Reads His Own Palm , winner of the 2010 Beatrice Hawley Award...

,
Tara Betts

Tara Betts

Tara Betts is the author of the book Arc & Hue, her debut collection on the Willow Books imprint of Aquarius Press. In 2010, Essence Magazine named her as one of their "40 Favorite Poets"....

,
Roger Bonair-Agard

Roger Bonair-Agard

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Roger Bonair-Agard is a poet who lives in Chicago. Bonair-Agard was a member of the 1997 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team and later coached the 1998 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team, which went on to win the National Poetry Slam Championship that year in...

,
Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown is an American poet who was recently awarded a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry.-Life:He graduated from Dillard University, and from the University of New Orleans with an MFA, and from the University of Houston with a Ph.D. He teaches at the University of...

,
Aya de Leon

Aya de Leon

Aya de Leon is a writer, poet, and spoken word artist in the underground poetry scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her heritage of both Puerto Rican and African American influence her work to explore issues with race, gender, socio-economic class, etc.She attended Harvard University, where she...

,
Camille Dungy

Camille Dungy

Camille T. Dungy is an American poet and professor. She is author of two poetry collections, most recently, Suck on the Marrow . Her poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including Antioch Review, Carolina Quarterly, The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, The Crab Orchard...

,
Ross Gay

Ross Gay

Ross Gay is an American poet and professor. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Against Which and Bringing the Shovel Down...

,
Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes is a prize-winning American poet. His recent poetry collection Lighthead won the National Book Award for Poetry...

,
M. Ayodele Heath

M. Ayodele Heath

M. Ayodele Heath is an American poet, spoken word performer, and fiction writer.- Life :Born in Atlanta, M. Ayodele Heath studied electrical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds an MFA in Poetry from New England College...

,
Major Jackson

Major Jackson

Major Jackson is an American poet and professor. He is the author of three collections of poetry: Holding Company and Hoops Major Jackson (born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American poet and professor. He is the author of three collections of poetry: Holding Company (W.W. Norton, 2010)...

,
Tyehimba Jess

Tyehimba Jess

Tyehimba Jess is an American poet.-Life:He graduated from the University of Chicago, and New York University, with an MFA. He teaches poetry and fiction at CUNY College of Staten Island and is the faculty adviser for Caesura, the university's literary arts magazine.His work appeared in Soul...

,
A. Van Jordan

A. Van Jordan

-Life:He graduated from Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, 1987, with a BA. He graduated from Howard University, 1990, with an MA. He graduated from Warren Wilson College, 1998, with an MFA. He lived in Washington, D.C....

,
Douglas Kearney

Douglas Kearney

-Life:He graduated from California Institute of the Arts, with an MFA.His work has appeared in Callaloo, nocturnes, jubilat, Gulf Coast.He teaches at California Institute of the Arts.-Awards:...

,
Adrian Matejka

Adrian Matejka

Adrian Matejka is an African-American poet. His most recent book is Mixology . He graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with an MFA. He is a Cave Canem Workshop fellow...

,
Shara McCallum

Shara McCallum

Shara McCallum is a Caribbean American poet, who was recently awarded a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry....

,
Constance Merritt

Constance Merritt

Constance Merritt is an American poet. Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1966, and educated at the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock. She is also the winner of the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry and a finalist for the William Carlos Williams Book Award...

,
Lenard Moore

Lenard Moore

Lenard Duane Moore in Jacksonville, North Carolina.He is a writer of more than 20 forms of poetry, drama, essays and literary criticism, and has been writing and publishing haiku for over 20 years....

,
Tracie Morris

Tracie Morris

Tracie Morris is an American poet, performer, vocalist and academic originally from Brooklyn, New York.-Career:Morris emerged as a performer and writer from the Lower East Side poetry scene in the early 1990s. She became known as a local performer in the "slam" scene located in the Nuyorican Poets...

,
Harryette Mullen

Harryette Mullen

Harryette Mullen is an American poet, short story writer, and literary scholar. She was born in Florence, Alabama, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and attended graduate school at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As of 2008, she lives in Los...

,
Mendi Obadike,
Gregory Pardlo

Gregory Pardlo

Gregory Pardlo is an American poet, writer, and professor. His poems, reviews, and translations have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Callaloo, Poet Lore, Harvard Review, Ploughshares, and on National Public Radio...

,
Patricia Smith,
Frank X Walker

Frank X Walker

Frank X Walker is an American poet from Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Kentucky. He completed an MFA in Writing at Spalding University in May 2003....