Grace Cavalieri is an
American poet
The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country.
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I–J
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*George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942)
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,
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just
Readin ...
, and
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
host of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
program ''
The Poet and the Poem''. In 2019, she was appointed the tenth
Poet Laureate of Maryland.
Education
* BS - Education: English and History,
The College of New Jersey, Trenton, 1954
* MA - Creative Writing & Education: Goddard University, Plainfield, VT, 1975
* Post-Graduate Studies, Graduate School of English,
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...
, MD, 1975–1976
* Graduate Studies in Education, Graduate School of Education, Rollins University, Orlando, FL, 1962–1963
Literary career
In 1979 she founded The Bunny and the Crocodile Press/Forest Woods Media Productions, Inc., a publishing house and media production company.
Anna Nicole: Poems By Grace Cavalieri written by Grace Cavalieri was first published on March 7, 2008.
LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE: A Memoir written by Grace Cavalieri was first published on May 1, 2015.
In 2019, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland.
Cavalieri has published 26 books and chapbooks of poetry, plus fiction. She has written many produced plays, plus texts for two produced operas. She co-founded the Washington Writers Publishing House with John McNally in 1976 and served on its editorial board from 1976 to 1982. In addition, in 1979 she founded The Bunny and the Crocodile Press/Forest Woods Media Productions, Inc., a publishing house and media production company. Forest Woods Media Productions produces ''The Poet and the Poem'' for podcasts and public radio, now celebrating 44 years. As of 2014, she still operates the small press, which is actively publishing. She has lectured and taught throughout the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
at several colleges and universities, and was, for 25 years, visiting poet at
St. Mary's College of Maryland
St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in St. Mary's City, Maryland.Maryland State Archives, Online Manual, "St. Mary's College Of Maryland: Origin & Fun ...
. She was resident writer at the Word Works annual retreat in
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
, 1996–2003.
[Guide to the Grace Cavalieri Papers, 1945-2014](_blank)
Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University. She was book editor of ''The Montserrat Review'' until 2011. She writes a monthly poetry feature entitled “Exemplars” for the ''Washington Independent Review of Books'' (2011–2019).
Radio career
Cavalieri has had a long-term connection with public radio and public radio programming. Cavalieri and a core staff founded the non-commercial radio station
WPFW
WPFW (89.3 FM) is a public radio and jazz music community radio station, serving the Washington metropolitan area. It is owned by the Pacifica Foundation, wit studios located on K Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The station's slogan is "Jazz and J ...
-FM after being awarded a three-year
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
(NEA) Radio Development Grant in 1976. Cavalieri worked for the station as Director of Arts Programming from 1976 to 1978, and as a radio producer from 1976 to 1985. She has produced more than 100 programs in radio drama, and poetry and arts criticism, including ''Poetry from the City'', ''Expressions'', and ''Writer's Workshop on the Air''.
Cavalieri worked as a radio broadcaster at WPFW-FM from 1977 to 1997 and is best known in the Washington literary community for her program ''
The Poet and the Poem''. The show aired weekly from 1977 to 1997, and was distributed nationally through the
Pacifica Radio
Pacifica may refer to:
Art
* ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition
Places
* Pacifica, California, a city in the United States
** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier
* Pacifica, a conce ...
station network, which includes
KPFA
KPFA (94.1 FM) is a public, listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed o ...
-FM/
KPFB-FM
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
,
KPFK
KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, which serves Southern California. It was the second of five stations in the non-commercial, listener-sponsored Pacifica Radio network.
KPFK 90.7 FM be ...
-FM
North Hollywood, California
North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...
,
KPFT-FM
Houston, Texas
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, and
WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic musi ...
-FM
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...
. Cavalieri stopped airing ''The Poet and the Poem'' through WPFW-FM in 1997 and now presents this series to public radio from the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
via
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
satellite. Approximately ten episodes from the Library of Congress series are produced each season, and podcasts are made available through the Library of Congress. Typically, ''The Poet and the Poem'' features poets who live in the Washington, D.C. area and have become a part of the Washington literary community. Cavalieri has been committed to presenting various American cultural traditions on the program and is particularly interested in the black literary community. The recordings of her programs include a significant collection of African-American poets.
In addition, she was an Associate Director of Programming at the
Public Broadcasting System
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prom ...
(PBS) for five years and subsequently served as program officer of the National Endowment for the Humanities media program from 1982 to 1988.
Personal life
Cavalieri lives in
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
. She has four adult daughters, Cynthia Ann; Colleen Patricia; Shelley Anne; Angela Beth; four grandchildren and a great grandchild. Her husband, sculptor Kenneth Flynn, died on January 15, 2013.
Kenneth Flynn Obituary
''Capital Gazette'', Jan. 19, 2013.
Literary awards
* 2013 George Garrett Award for Community Service to Literature "for her dedication to helping the next generation of writers find their way as artists and literary professionals".
* 2013 Co-winner, 2013 Allen Ginsberg Award for Poetry
* 2015 The Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from Washington Independent Review of Books
* 2015 THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN Bordighera Press Paterson Award for Literary Excellence
* 2018 Selected to serve as the next Poet Laureate for the State of Maryland
* 2019 The Annie Award
* The Paterson Literary Review Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to Poetry
* The Columbia Award
* The Pen-Syndicated Fiction Award
* The Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...
Poetry Award
* Paterson Poetry Prize for ''What I Would Do for Love: Poems in the Voice of Mary Wollstonecraft''
* The National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
* The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...
Silver Medal
* The American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances Justice, equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide Social net ...
* The Paterson Award for Literary Excellence for ''Anna Nicole: Poems''
* The Dragonfly Press Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement
* The DC Poet Laureate Special Award in Poetry
* The DC Public Humanities Award
* The West Virginia Women in Arts Award
* 2024 Blue Light Press Publication Award
She has received several state arts and humanities council awards and fellowships. She received the inaugural Columbia Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library Poetry Committee for "significant contribution to poetry."
References
External links
Grace Cavalieri Poetry in Motion
Guide to the Grace Cavalieri Papers, 1945-2014, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalieri, Grace
1932 births
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American poets
20th-century American Buddhists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American poets
21st-century American Buddhists
21st-century American women writers
American opera librettists
American radio personalities
American women dramatists and playwrights
American women poets
Living people
Women opera librettists
Writers from Annapolis, Maryland
Writers from Washington, D.C.