Camille T. Dungy

“We welcome you to the Spring 2025 Reading Series! It’s a great line up of author’s and writer’s to inspire. All events are free and open to the public.”

“The Creative Writing Program of the UNL English Department welcomes Camille T. Dungy as our National Poetry Month speaker. Dungy has written four collections of poetry, including “Trophic Cascade,” winner of the Colorado Book Award. She edited “Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry,” the first anthology to bring African American environmental poetry to national attention. She also co-edited the “From the Fishouse” poetry anthology and served as assistant editor for “Gathering Ground: Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade.” Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, 100 Best African American Poems, Best American Essays, “The 1619 Project,” “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis,” over 40 other anthologies, plus dozens of other publications including The New Yorker, Poetry, Literary Hub, The Paris Review, and Poets.org. You may know her as the host of “Immaterial,” a podcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise. A University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University, Dungy’s honors include the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, an honorary doctorate from SUNY ESF and fellowships from the NEA in both prose and poetry.

She is also the author of “Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden,” which was named book of the month by Hudsons Booksellers, received the 2024 Award of Excellence in Garden and Nature Writing from The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries and was on the short list for the PEN/Jean Stein Award. Her essay collection “Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood and History,” was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.”

“Join us for a special reading, author talk and book signing with Camille T. Dungy, author of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden. Soil documents Camille’s seven-year journey to resist the policies restricting her ability to diversify her garden in Fort Collins, Colorado. Camille’s lyrical and poignant words will leave you feeling inspired and motivated to get your hands dirty.”