Meena Alexander

Meena Alexander Biography

Meena Alexander is an Indian author who writes in English. She writes poetry and is a well-known scholar. She currently serves as Professor of English at Hunter College, New York.  She also teaches English at CUNY Graduate Center in the PhD program. A distinguished writer of present times, she is a recipient of Imbongi Yesizwe International Poetry Award (South Africa) and PEN Open Book Prize. She writes poetry, novels, memoirs, Criticism, essays and a few more works. She has also published many research works and travelogues. She is one of the finest poets of contemporary times.

Meena Alexander was born on 17 February 1951 in Allahabad, UP. She was born to a Christian family from Kerala. She was raised in India and Sudan, and currently she is settled in New York city, where she is busy with her profession of teaching. She lived in Allahabad and Kerala until she reached 5, and then the family migrated to Sudan, where she spent many years. She graduated in the year 1964. She studied English and French literature, and during her academic years she started publishing English poems. Her poems were translated into Arabic and published in a local newspaper.

In 1969 she moved to England, and completed her PhD at the age of 22 in 1973. She then moved to India and taught at several universities for the next 5 years. At that time she published her first three books here - The Bird's Bright Ring (1976), I Root My Name (1977), and Without Place (1978). In the early 1980s she moved to New York, where she continued with her professional life as well as literal career. Alexander is known for Lyric poetry that deals with migration and topics related to it.

Published: September 19, 2018

Updated: September 19, 2018