VCU professor nominated for National Book Award

Mechelle Hankerson
Staff Writer

VCU Creative Writing professor Kathleen Graber was announced this Wednesday as a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award.

The National Book Award seeks to honor and recognize the best contemporary American writers, with past award winners including Cormack McCarthy, William Carlos Williams, John Updike and E.L. Doctorow. Graber is being nominated for her second poetry collection, The Eternal City.

Graber began her career in poetry as a chaperone to high-school students to the biennial Dodge Poetry Festival. “I was reluctant to do it for all the reasons that no one wants to ride with a bunch of high school students on a bus,” said Graber.

Graber said she went through with the trip as a favor to a friend, but knew nothing about contemporary American poetry. While attending, she heard the poetry of Mark Doty and was captivated by his work.

“I thought ‘Wow, I want to learn to do what they’re doing,’” said Graber. “As a kid, I had an interest in writing, but I always imagined I would write fiction and I’m a terrible storyteller…so I had never pursued that.”

“When I came home, I said to my husband, ‘I’m going to become a poet,’ and he said ‘Okay, honey, good luck with that. Don’t quit your day job.’”

When Graber began writing poetry, she never imagined she would be at the point of receiving such an award.

“I’m completely stunned, it’s totally unexpected,” Graber said. “It exceeds every expectation I’ve ever had for myself or my career. It’s the equivalent of [a] Gloden Globes nomination [for an actor]. I don’t expect to win.”

Regardless of whether she believes she will win the award or not, Graber said she believes this nomination is a huge victory for her poetry.

“People who read poetry will read my book,” she said. “That’s awesome.”

“It’s terrific for the press, and it’s terrific for VCU, so I’m ecstatic. Most of the time, I’m somebody who says everything is a mixed blessing…this is a good blessing all the way through.”

Graber obtained her position at VCU while finishing her time overseas on the Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship from Princeton, which she spent working on The Eternal City, the poetry collection for which she was nominated for the National Book Award.

Graber was drawn to VCU for its impressive staff in the Creative Writing, including the late poet Larry Levis, who was a strong influence on Graber’s own poetry.

“I don’t want to say it was destiny, but it felt so right for me to come to the place where he had been,” she said. Graber was also excited to work with David Wojahn, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Greg Donavan, an editor of the online literary journal, Blackbird.

“[Blackbird] is the most prestigious online journal in the country,” said Graber. “That’s not an exaggeration, it truly is a groundbreaking online journal.”

Graber admires the work of these two colleagues but also admires their behavior in the light of fame.

“[They are] two people who go about their business out of the spotlight, which is important to me because I had been in New York for so long,” said Graber. “It’s so easy to get distracted and to forget that it’s really about you and the words, alone, hammering it out.

“[This award] is great and its intoxicating, but tomorrow, its going to be me in a room by myself with a bunch of words.”

Although Graber has been busy with receiving the award, she has no teaching obligations in the spring and hopes to use that time to write more and experiment with writing creative nonfiction.

“You always have to be working and planning and thinking,” said Graber. “You can’t really not be engaged.”