Born: 21 October 1947, United States
Died: 20 March 2010
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Florence Leah Anthony
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
1947, Oct. 21 Born, Albany, Tex., as Florence Leah Anthony
1969 B.A., Oriental studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. Began using “Ai” as a pen name
1971 M.F.A., University of California, Irvine, Calif.
1973 Published Cruelty; Poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; Changed name legally to Pelorhankhe Ai L’Heah Ogawa
1973-1974 Visiting instructor, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, N.Y.
1976 Married Lawrence M. Kearney (divorced 1984)
1976-1977 Assistant professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass.
1977-1978 Assistant professor, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.
1978 Awarded the Lamont poetry selection for Killing Floor: Poems by the Academy of American Poets
1979 Published Killing Floor: Poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
1981 Writer in residence, The Writer’s Community, New York, N.Y. Writer in residence, George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
1986 Published Sin: Poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
1987 Received the American Book Award for Sin: Poems
1987-1988 Visiting poet, George Mason University; Visiting poet, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass.
1988-1989 Visiting associate professor, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
1990 Visiting poet, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
1991 Published Fate: New Poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; Writer in residence, The Writer’s Voice Project
1993 Published Greed. New York: W.W. Norton
1994-1998 Wrote “Black Blood: A Tale of Love, Death, Race, and Sex” (unpublished novel)
1996-1997 Visiting associate professor of English, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
1998-1999 Substitute teacher, Tucson School District, Tuscon, Ariz.
1999 Published Vice: New and Selected Poems. New York: W.W. Norton; Awarded National Book Award for Vice: New and Selected Poems
1999-2010 Professor, Creative Writing Program, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla.
2000-2001 Vice president, Native American Faculty and Staff Association, Oklahoma State University
2001-2002 President, Native American Faculty and Staff Association, Oklahoma State University
2002-2003 Visiting chair, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Tex.
2003 Published Dread. New York: W.W. Norton
2004-2005 Vice president, Native American Faculty and Staff Association, Oklahoma State University
2010, Mar. 10 Died, Stillwater, Okla.
2010 Publication of No Surrender. New York: W.W. Norton