Lavonne J. Adams is a published poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 living in Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

. Adams grew up in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, but has called NC her home for over 30 years. Adams currently teaches and is the MFA Coordinator in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Education

Adams has three degrees from UNCW. She earned her BA in 1986, followed by her MA in English in 1992. In 1999, she earned her MFA in poetry, making her one of the first to graduate from UNCW's Creative Writing graduate program. During her time there, Adams studied with visiting Writer-in-Residence Philip Levine

Philip Levine (poet)

Philip Levine is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for over thirty years at the English Department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well...

, who is now the United States Poet Laureate.

Publications

Adams' poems have been published in over fifty venues, including The Southern Poetry Review, Missouri Review, and Poet Lore

Poet Lore

Poet Lore is an English-language literary magazine based in Bethesda, Maryland. Established in 1889, Poet Lore is the oldest continuously published poetry magazine in the United States....

. Her first published collection, a 36-page chapbook

Chapbook

A chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...

 entitled Everyday Still Life, consists mostly of poems written during her time in graduate school. Her next chapbook, In the Shadow of the Mountain, was published five years later. Centering around the deadly 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée

Mount Pelée

Mount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of the island and French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava....

, it contains many historically-based poems written from the point of view of locals before, during, and after the eruption. Adams' most recently published collection is Through the Glorieta Pass. This book contains historical poetry

Historical Poetry

Historical poetry is a sub-genre of poetry that has its roots in history. Its aim is to delineate events of the past by incorporating elements of artful composition and poetic diction...

 about the Santa Fe Trail

Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...

 in the time when pioneers

American pioneer

American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...

 were settling the Wild West, drawing upon journals and other records of pioneer, Hispanic, and Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 women. Adams traveled to gather additional information in Santa Fe, NM, and along what remains of the trail.

Awards and Recognition

Adams was the recipient of the Persephone Poetry Prize for her chapbook Everyday Still Life, as well as the Randall Jarrell

Randall Jarrell

Randall Jarrell was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, and novelist. He was the 11th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a role which now holds the title of US Poet Laureate.-Life:Jarrell was a native of Nashville, Tennessee...

/Harperprints Chapbook Award for In the Shadow of the Mountain. Adams' poetry collection Through the Glorieta Pass won the 2007 Pearl Poetry Prize.

North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer said the following about Through the Glorieta Pass:
Adams was awarded Artist-in-Residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency, Taos, NM Summer 2009. She was awarded a Fellowship from the Vermont Studio in 2009, and Artist-in-Residence, Harwood Museum of Art, University of New Mexico

University of New Mexico

The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...

, Taos in 2007.