Cornelius Eady is a poet and musician and the cofounder of Cave Canem, a nonprofit cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets. In a career that has included eight volumes of poetry, he has won the 1985 Lamont Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Mr. Eady was born in Rochester and attended MCC. He teaches poetry in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.