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Former U.S. poet laureate to deliver Emory commencement speech

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey reads poetry at The Carlos Museum at Emory University, Dec. 5, 2016.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey reads poetry at The Carlos Museum at Emory University, Dec. 5, 2016.
By Becca J G Godwin
May 2, 2017

Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer-Prize winner who served two terms as the 19th poet laureate of the United States from 2012 to 2014, will be the keynote speaker for Emory University's 172nd commencement ceremony.

Trethewey is also the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing and director of the Creative Program at Emory. In November, it was announced that she is leaving Emory after 15 years to take a post at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

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The commencement ceremony, which will be Emory President Claire E. Sterk's first as president, will begin at 9 a.m. Monday.

The event will take place on the Emory quadrangle for about 4,700 graduating students and their families, according to a news release. About 15,000 people are expected to attend.

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Natasha Trethewey tells America’s story through the narrativeof her own life. Reporter Rosalind Bentley reveals the joysand sorrows of the nation’s poet laureate.

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Becca J G Godwin
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