C.D. Wright was born and raised in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. She has published nine collections of poetry, most recently the booklength poem Deepstep Come Shining (Copper Canyon, 1998), Tremble (The Ecco Press, 1996), and Just Whistle, another booklength poem (Kelsey Street Press, 1993). String Light (University of Georgia Press, 1991) won the 1992 Poetry Center Book Award given by San Francisco State University. Poems and essays have appeared in American Letters & Commentary, Arschile, BRICK, CONJUNCTIONS, sulfur, and other magazines. Wright has composed and published two state literary maps, one for Arkansas, her native state, and one for Rhode Island, her adopted state.