Constance Quarterman Bridges

Constance Quarterman Bridges was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and she retired from her position as program analyst with the US Department of the Treasury in 1987, after which she began publishing her poetry. She is the author of Lions Don’t Eat Us (Graywolf, 2006), which received the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, bestowed to the best first collection by an African American poet. Poet Sonia Sanchez selected and provided the introduction to the collection, a family-centered piece which traces the poet’s African American, Native American, and Caucasian ancestors and their personal lives as reconstructed through oral history and written accounts. In 1999 and 2005, Bridges received fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Her work has appeared in African American Review, Black Diaspora, Orison, The Oxford Anthology of African American Poetry, and Potomac Review.