Cornelius Eady first joined the conference staff in 1992. He is the author of over a dozen books, including Victims of the Latest Dance Craze, winner of the 1985 Lamont Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets; The Gathering of My Name, a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize; and Brutal Imagination, a National Book Award finalist. His honors include the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award; a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Award; and Guggenheim, NEA,
and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships. A cofounder of Cave Canem, a national organization for African American poetry and poets, Eady teaches at SUNY Stony Brook Southampton. His most recent book is The War against the Obvious. www.corneliuseady.com