Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright, and teacher. She has published numerous books of poems, including American Sublime, which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, a young adult collection (co-authored with Marilyn Nelson), Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color, which won a 2008 Connecticut Book Award, and, most recently, Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems: 1990-2010. In her memoir, The Light of the World (Grand Central Publishing), Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband. Channeling her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid prose, Alexander tells a love story that is, itself, a story of loss. As she reflects on the beauty of her married life, the trauma resulting from her husband’s death, and the solace found in caring for her two teenage sons, Alexander universalizes a very personal quest for meaning and acceptance in the wake of loss.
