Trethewey Named Ga. Woman of the Year

Natasha Trethewey, Emory University Pulitzer Prize winning poet and professor, has been named 2008 Georgia Woman of the Year by the Georgia Commission on Women. Trethewey received the honor at the commission's annual dinner July 29.

The Georgia Woman of the Year Committee was established by the Georgia Commission on Women in 1996, when former first lady Rosalyn Carter was named the first recipient. Proceeds from the event are used to award scholarships to women enrolled in Georgia colleges and universities. Six or more scholarships for women enrolled in Georgia public and private colleges and universities will be awarded at the event.

Trethewey received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the Lillian Smith Award for her book "Native Guard," which chronicles the South, biracialism and the story of a black Union Regiment guarding Confederate prisoners on Ship Island, Miss.

A 1989 graduate of the University of Georgia, Trethewey has published three books of poetry and numerous poems in professional publications and anthologies. Other honors include an honorary doctor of letters degree from Delta State University, Governor’s Award for Excellence from Mississippi Arts Commission and a Humanities Research Grant at Emory.

Trethewey is the daughter of noted poet and Hollins University professor Eric Trethewey, and she attributes much of the inspiration for her writings to her own experience as a biracial child growing up in Mississippi.