E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist. He is a board member of The Writer’s Center and editor of its Poet Lore magazine. The author of several collections of poems, his last book How We Sleep On The Nights We Don’t Make Love (Curbstone Press, 2004) was an Independent Publisher Award Finalist (and number one on our 2004 list of Books to begin your Poeducation now). Mr. Miller received the 1995 O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize, given by the Folger Shakespeare Library for both teaching and writing excellence. In 1996 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature from Emory & Henry College. In 2003 his memoir Fathering Words: The Making of An African American Writer (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), was selected by DC WE READ for its one book, one city program sponsored by the D.C. Public Libraries. In 2004, Mr. Miller was awarded a Fulbright to visit Israel. Poets & Writers presented him with the 2007 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. Mr. Miller is often heard on National Public Radio (NPR).

Here are links to a few places where you can read his work online:

• Six of his poems, including “Divine Love,” “Boxing with Your Mom” and “Hitless and Crying at the Plate” (for Reetika Vazirani), are posted in the poetry section of his own Web site.
• You can also read several of his essays and interviews at EEthelbertMiller.com, including “My Language, My Imagination: The Politics of Poetry,” which recounts the beginnings of his life as a poet, under the influence of the Black Arts Movement.
• A series of five poems under the title “Two Tercets To Remember” appeared in Volume 16 of The Other Voices International Project cyber-anthology.
• “Looking for Omar” and “What Does E Stand For?” are posted at the Academy of American Poets site.
• The Library of Congress Webcast a 2002 interview with Miller as part of its Poet and the Poem series.

To purchase Miller’s books, use these shopping links:

• Where Are the Love Poems for Dictators? (poems, Open Hand Publishing, first published 1986, reprint edition 2001)
  
• First Light (new and selected poems, Black Classic Press, 1993)
  
• Whispers, Secrets and Promises (poems, Black Classic Press, 1998)
  
• Fathering Words: The Making of an African-American Writer (memoir, St. Martin’s Press, 2000)
  
• How We Sleep On The Nights We Don’t Make Love (poems, Curbstone Press, 2004)
  

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