Biography
Claudia Rankine is a distinguished poet, playwright, essayist and adjunct professor of English and African American Studies at Yale University. She was born in Jamaica in 1963 and moved to New York as a child. Rankine is the author of six collections of poetry, and the winner of scores of awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, the PEN Center USA Poetry Award, and the Forward poetry prize. Rankine, one of America’s foremost scholars on racial justice, is known for her inventive, fearless poetry. In her newest book, Just Us: An American Conversation, released in 2020, she explores whiteness and white supremacy through a series of everyday conversations. Like her previous works, Just Us is an experimental collage of poetry, criticism, first-person prose and image. Rankine, who holds a BA from Williams College and an MFA from Columbia University, is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, among many other honours.