First it was a Pulitzer, then it was a state prize. Now, Fredericksburg poet Claudia Emerson has been named poet laureate of Virginia.

"I'm kind of getting used to Claudia coming up with all these fabulous prizes," said Teresa A. Kennedy, head of the department of English, linguistics and communications at the University of Mary Washington, where Emerson works.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced Emerson's appointment yesterday. It is the third major honor that Emerson has gained in three years. She received the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 2006 for "Late Wife," her third book of poetry, and won a $10,000 prize awarded by the Virginia State Library Association in 2007.

"I'm so excited," said Emerson, whose fourth book of poetry, "Figure Studies," has just been published by the Louisiana State University Press.

Besides a prodigious output of art, Emerson is known for her love of teaching at UMW, where she has been a professor the past 10 years.

"She loves her students and is incredibly dedicated. I can't say enough what it's like to work with her," Kennedy said.

Emerson said her responsibilities as poet laureate remain unclear.

"Previous poet laureates have done a lot in terms of promoting poetry in the state," she said. "I'd love to think about doing something, perhaps for poetry month, at the campus."

Mary Washington is no stranger to poet laureates. Virginia's most recent poet laureate is Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, who lives in Middlesex County. She graduated from UMW, then Mary Washington College, in 1969.

Emerson, who grew up in Chatham in Pittsylvania County, graduated from the University of Virginia in 1979 with a degree in English and earned a master's in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Contact Lawrence Latané III at (804) 333-3461 or llatane@timesdispatch.com.