Ed Roberson

Charles Edwin (Ed) Roberson (born December 26, 1939) is a distinguished American poet, celebrated for his unique diction and intricacy in exploring the natural and cultural worlds.

His poetic voice is informed by a background in science and visual art, coupled with his identity as an African American.

Roberson attended George Westinghouse High School and graduated in 1959.

As a first-generation student, he studied chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, researching limnology, his interests in literature and art left in the background.

Roberson has been an active poet since the early 1960s and has authored eight collections, including "Atmosphere Conditions" (1999) and "City Eclogue" (2006).

As editor of Pitt's student literary journal, a few of his early poems appeared there, but in 1962, his first poem of note, "I Must Be Careful", was published in The Atlantic Monthly and won the Grand Prize.

After graduating in 1967, Roberson embarked on a diverse career, including work in a Pittsburgh steel mill, an advertising graphics firm, and as a diver in Pittsburgh's public aquarium.

While in college, his interest and submersion into nature was fed by work-study in forested northern Pennsylvania; his role as a research assistant in Pennsylvania, Alaska's Kodiak and Afognak Islands, and Bermuda; and a cross-country motorcycle trip with his friends Andy Welsh and Dick Vandal in 1970.

He graduated that same year and later completed graduate work at Goddard College.

Ed Roberson's career officially began in 1970 with the release of When Thy King is a Boy, as he was graduating from the University of Pennsylvania.

From the start, Roberson proved his merit, with many of his early books published by renowned publishers like the University of Pittsburgh Press.

However, his fame did not skyrocket until much later into his life.

His race, aesthetic, and areas of focus were obstacles for Roberson - but also tools he weaved together in his art.

Popular subjects of his poetry include nature (urban as well as natural settings), politics, history, and human behavior, often woven and tied together within each piece.

His travels and experiences, current events, and societal norms and issues all serve as inspiration for his poems.

His work appears in the literary magazine Callaloo.

Roberson has written eleven books of poetry.

Ed Roberson's poetic tapestry is intricately woven with a myriad of influences, creating a unique and multifaceted body of work.

His background in earth sciences, particularly limnology, gave him a profound appreciation for the natural world, reflected in the precision and vivid imagery of his poetry.

Roberson's exploration of African heritage and black culture, influenced by poets like Langston Hughes and Léopold Sédar Senghor, allows him to talk about wide variety of personal and cultural histories.

Early interests in painting and a deep dive into visual art at the Pittsburgh Museum contributed to the visual dimensions of his poetry, evident in his experiments with visual poetry.

Engaging with literary traditions and drawing from his extensive travels, including journeys to Nigeria and motorcycle trips across the United States, Roberson's poetry reflects a spirit of adventure and a deep respect for diverse landscapes.

His main occupation once out of college, however, was in higher education, in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania as a lecturer and professor until 1973, when he began teaching at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

He married Rhonda Wiles, who graduated from Rutgers University Douglas College and Hofstra Law School in New York in May 1973.

He taught English at the University of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Community College before joining Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1973.

During his thirty-year tenure at Rutgers, he held various administrative positions while continuing to indulge his passion for adventure travel, poetry, and motorcycle journeys.

They had a daughter, Lena, in 1976.

His travels were plenty and stimulating for his poetry; he also visited West Africa (Nigeria) in 1980 and the Amazon jungle and the Andes in South America (Peru, Ecuador) on two climbing trips with the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh, in 1963 and 1975.

At one point, before completing his degree, Roberson took a break from his studies and held numerous overlapping jobs, working in the Pittsburgh steel mills, for an advertising firm called Film Graphics, as a tank diver for the Pittsburgh AquaZoo, and as an English literature teacher for Allegheny Community College.

Roberson then transitioned to an administrative position there in the 1980s when his tenure was denied - the same time his father died of cancer, his marriage was dissolving, and his writings were being turned down.

Among his many honors are the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award (1998) and the Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Award (2008).

Roberson, the oldest of four boys, was born and raised in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, drawn to visual art and aspiring to be a painter.

His family attended African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

His father owned a garbage collection company, eventually brought to ruin by organized crime.

In 2002, he was forced to retire, momentarily, due to his own battle with cancer.

In 2003, Roberson relocated to Chicago after leaving Rutgers University.

In 2004, he moved to Chicago from New Jersey, having overcome the battle.

There, he taught at Columbia College, the Center for the Writing Arts, and the University of Chicago, and was most recently employed at Northwestern University as a Writer-in-Residence.

He taught at Columbia College and later became Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Center for the Writing Arts at Northwestern University in 2006.

Though he began reading poetry in high school (to the dismay of his tenth-grade teacher, who claimed that "the art of poetry had died"), Ed Roberson only began writing as an undergraduate student, fascinated by sonnets.