MARILYN NELSON was raised on a succession of military bases, and started writing while still in elementary school. Her father (a career Air Force officer who wrote poems and plays) was a navigator on one of the B-52’s that circled the globe carrying atomic bombs. An intimate sense of the connection between personal/familial history and world history informs all of her work. Her books include The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (1997), Magnificat (1994); The Homeplace (1990), Mama's Promises (1985); and For the Body (1978). She has also published two collections of verse for children. Her honors include two Pushcart Prizes, and creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, and the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award. Marilyn was named Poet Laureate of Connecticut in June, 2001.