12 Facts About Clarence Major

Clarence Major was born on December 31,1936 and is an American poet, painter, and novelist; and winner of the 2015 "Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts", presented by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Clarence Major was born on December 31,1936, in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Chicago.

Clarence Major left the University of Colorado in 1989 and he taught at the University of California, Davis, for 18 years before his retirement in 2007.

Clarence Major won a National Council on the Arts Award for his poetry collection Swallow the Lake in 1970, and the following year was awarded a New York Cultural Foundation grant for poetry.

Clarence Major won the Pushcart Prize for the short story "My Mother and Mitch", in 1989.

Clarence Major was awarded the International Literary Hall of Fame award in 2001.

Clarence Major received the "2015 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts" from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

In 2021, Clarence Major was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

Clarence Major has edited several anthologies, most recently Calling the Wind: 20th Century African-American Short Stories and The Garden Thrives: 20th Century African-American Poetry.

Clarence Major studied drawing and painting under the direction of painter Gus Nall from 1952 to 1954.

Clarence Major attended sketch and lecture classes during the same period in Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Clarence Major has attended or received degrees from the following institutions:.