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New site dedicated to the acclaimed poet and UM Press author, who will read at the Presidential Inauguration on January 20

The University of Michigan Press announced this week that it is
celebrating the selection of poet Elizabeth Alexander to read at the
Presidential Inauguration with a special Web site commemorating her work.
“Power & Possibility,” her volume of essays, reviews and interviews on
poetry -- which covers the role of poetry in politics -- will also be sold at a
special inaugural discount.

"The University of Michigan Press is immensely proud that
the incoming President of the United States, Barack Obama, has chosen Elizabeth
Alexander, author of and contributor to two books that we publish, for the
honor of reading an original poem at his inauguration," UM Press Director Phil
Pochoda said. "Though her exceptional talent and insight have long been obvious
to us, we are gratified that Professor Alexander has been singled out in this
historic manner."

Alexander is just the fourth poet in the history of this
country to be chosen to read at a presidential inauguration. She will join the
ranks of such luminaries as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou when she steps up to
read her new poem on January 20.

The new UM Press site dedicated to Alexander, located at www.press.umich.edu/alexander,
features an extensive biography, quotes from her peers about her historic
selection, new excerpts from her work (including an essay on poetry and
politics) and details about her books.

"We want to salute Greywolf Press, which has been Professor
Alexander’s primary poetry publisher. But her involvement with the University
of Michigan Press stems from two long-standing publishing efforts of which this
Press is also very proud," Pochoda said. "Professor Alexander’s imaginative and
passionate book of essays on poets, politics and poetry, entitled ‘Power &
Possibility,’ was published in our legendary Poets and Poetry Series, now some
31 years old with 95 books to its credit, dedicated to the critical essays of
many of the major poets of the United States through this period.

"This press has also been one of the leading publishers in
recent years of works of and about the writers associated with the Black Arts
movement of the 1960s and 70s. When the Cave Canem group, formed in the 1990s
to foster the work of African-American poets, was searching for a publisher for
its 10th anniversary poetry anthology ‘Gathering Ground,’ for which Professor
Alexander contributed both a poem and an introduction, we were, therefore, a
natural fit.

"We feel fortunate and privileged to have published
Elizabeth Alexander in these two distinguished venues."

Alexander’s peers rave about her work on the new site,
declaring her ultimately deserving of such a great honor.

"President-Elect Obama has made a wise choice in Elizabeth
Alexander, a poet of exceptional eloquence, depth, and grace," said Maurice
Berger, senior research scholar at the Center for Art, Design and Visual
Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. "In the tradition of
James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, and Toni Morrison, she is equally adept as
literary writer, social observer, and cultural critic. Her inaugural poem will
no doubt inspire our nation in this troubled and extraordinary time."

"With her considerable poetic skills and her complex vision
of American history and culture, Elizabeth Alexander is an inspired choice to
play such a prominent role in the presidential inauguration," said Arnold
Rampersad, professor emeritus at Stanford University.