Dolores Kendrick Explained

Dolores Kendrick
Birth Date:	7 September 1927
Birth Place:	Washington, D.C.
Death Place:	Washington, D.C.
Genre:	Poetry
Notableworks:	The Women of Plums: Poems in the Voices of Slave Women
Awards:	Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia

Dolores Kendrick (September 7, 1927 – November 7, 2017) was an American poet, and served as the second Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia.^{[1] [2]} Her book The Women of Plums: Poems in the Voices of Slave Women won the Anisfield-Wolf Award.^[3]

Biography

Dolores Teresa Kendrick was born on September 7, 1927, in Washington, DC. to parents Josephine, a musician and teacher, and Robert "Ike", founder and publisher of the Capitol Spotlight. She grew up in the LeDroit Park neighborhood near Howard University. ^[4] She attended Dunbar High School where she began writing poetry, and went on to Miners Teachers College to study English. She earned a master's degree in linguistics from Georgetown University in 1970 as part of the Experienced Teacher Fellowship Program.^[5] She designed the humanities curriculum for D.C.'s School Without Walls.^[6] In 1963 she received a Fulbright exchange in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Kendrick was a Vira I. Heinz Professor Emerita at Phillips Exeter Academy.^[7]

She adapted The Women of Plums for the theater, which won the 1997 New York New Playwrights Award.^[8]

She adapted The Women of Plums into a CD, The Color of Dusk, with Wall Matthews and Aleta Greene.^[9]

Kendrick died at her Washington, D.C. home on November 7, 2017, aged 90, from complications of cancer.^[10]

Works

• Through the Ceiling, Paul Breman Limited, 1975
• Now Is the Thing to Praise, Lotus Press, 1984,
• The Women of Plums: Poems in the Voices of Slave Women, Phillips Exeter Academy Press, 1990,
• Why the woman is singing on the corner: a verse narrative, Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2001,

Awards and honors

• 1963: Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, Belfast, Northern Ireland^[11]
• 1965: Deep South Writers' Award for narrative poem "Freddie"
• 1967: Visiting Master, 'Iolani School, Honolulu, Hawai'i^[12]
• 1981: Poet-in-Residence at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts
• 1988: Creative Writing Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts^[13]
• 1990: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for The Women of Plums^[14]
• 1997: New York New Playwrights Award for her stage adaptation of The Women of Plums
• 1999: Named Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia^[15]
• 2005: Inducted into the Washington, D.C. Hall of Fame in the cultural arts category^[16]

External links

• News: D.C. Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick wants to rejuvenate poetry's place. The Washington Post. Megan Buerger. September 2, 2011.
• "The 3-minute interview: Dolores Kendrick", The Washington Examiner, Scott McCabe, January 31, 2008
• A Poem for Mom, Set to Her Favorite Opera, NPR, May 9, 2005
• "Review: Dolores Kendrick's The Women of Plums: Poems in the Voices of Slave Women (William Morrow Company, Inc. 1989)"
• "Poetry of Levine & Kendrick". The Library of Congress Webcasts.

Notes and References

1. http://anacostia.si.edu/exhibits/online_exhibitions/all_the_stories_are_true/All_the_Stories-Dolores.htm "Dolores Kendrick", Smithsonian, Anacostia Community Museum
2. Web site: Office of the Poet Laureate. 2011-11-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20120518015850/http://dc.gov/DC/DCARTS/About+DCARTS/Who+We+Are/Poet+Laureate#. 2012-05-18. dead.
3. http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/the-women-of-plums-poems-in-the-voices-of-slave-women/ The 78th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
4. News: Dolores Kendrick, Washington's 'first lady of poetry,' dies at 90 .
5. Commencement 1971 -Program, Honorary Degrees . https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/12/archival_objects/1349254 . Printed Item . May 23, 1971 . Commencement Files . https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/12/resources/10733 . Georgetown University Archives . Georgetown University . Washington, DC.
6. Book: Roeming, Robert . Developing Awareness Through Poetry . University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee . 1972 . Milwaukee, Wisconsin . iv . English.
7. http://www.korepress.org/DeloresKendrick.htm Dolores Kendrick page
8. http://www.bowzerbird.com/nationalwriterscongress/doloreskendrick.html Dolores Kendrick biography
9. Web site: Poetry by Dolores Kendrick, Washington, D.C. Why the Woman is Singing on the Corner, Peter E. Randall Publisher, Book Publishing, New England Local and Town History. Perpublisher.com. 12 November 2017. 17 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181217110613/http://www.perpublisher.com/per45.html. dead.
10. Web site: Dolores Kendrick, Washington's 'first lady of poetry,' dies at 90. Harrison. Smith. 9 November 2017. November 12, 2017. Washingtonpost.com.
11. Book: Kendrick, Dolores . Now Is the Thing to Praise . Lotus Press . 1984 . 0916418545 . Detroit . 117.
12. Introducing New Faculty . Printed Item . RG021:9.ISP.ISB . Fall 1967 . 10 . vol VIII, no. 1 . Iolani School Bulletin . 'Iolani School Archives . 'Iolani School . Honolulu, Hawai'i.
13. Web site: Literature Fellowships . https://web.archive.org/web/20220407235930/https://www.arts.gov/grants/recent-grants/literature-fellowships/list-by-year?field_year_value=All&field_lit_fellows_type_value=3&title=kendrick . April 7, 2022 . April 7, 2022 . National Endowment for the Arts.
14. Web site: The Women of Plums - Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards . https://web.archive.org/web/20201026005133/https://www.anisfield-wolf.org/winners/the-women-of-plums-poems-in-the-voices-of-slave-women/ . October 26, 2020 . April 7, 2022 . Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.
15. News: May 20, 1999 . City Names Its Own Poet Laureate . DC2 . . April 7, 2022. .
16. News: April 18, 2005 . City's Hall of Fame Names 19 Inductees . B3 . . April 7, 2022. .