Cornelius Eady is the author of five books of poetry; KARTUNES, (1980), VICTIMS OF THE LATEST DANCE CRAZE, (1986), winner of the 1985 Lamont Prize from the Academy of American Poets, THE GATHERING OF MY NAME, (1991), nominated for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, YOU DON'T MISS YOUR WATER, (1995), and THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A JUKEBOX (1997).
With poet Toi Derricote, he is co-founder of Cave Canem, a summer workshop/retreat for African American poets. In January 2001, his sixth book of poetry was published BRUTAL IMAGINATION, a National Book Award finalist. In January 2002, a production of BRUTAL IMAGINATION (with a score by Diedre Murray) opened at the Vineyard Theatre, where he will spend the next two years working under the auspices of a TCG/Pew playwriting fellowship.
He is the recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Literature (1985), a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, (1993), a Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Traveling Scholarship to Tougaloo College in Mississippi (1992-1993), a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to Bellagio, Italy, (1993), and The Prairie Schooner Strousse Award (1994). His work appears in many journals, magazines and the anthologies EVERY SHUT EYE AIN'T ASLEEP, IN SEARCH OF COLOR EVERYWHERE, and THE VINTAGE ANTHOLOGY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY, (1750-2000). In June 1997, an adaptation of YOU DON'T MISS YOUR WATER was performed at the Vineyard Theatre, in New York City. In April 1999, "Running Man", a music-theatre piece co-written with jazz musician Diedre Murray, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and awarded a 1999 Obie for best musical score and lead actor in a musical.
Born in Rochester, New York, he has taught poetry at SUNY Stony Brook, where he also directed its Poetry Center, City College of New York, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, The Writer's Voice, The 92nd St Y, The College of William and Mary, and Sweet Briar College.
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