Ai Ogawa

Ai (October 21, 1947 - March 20, 2010), was born Florence Anthony. She changed her name to Ai (“Ai,” means “love” in Japanese) Ogawa.

“Ai was always a fierce and uncompromising voice. The author of seven memorable books of poetry, she earned the American Book Award for Sin in 1987 and a National Book Award for Vice in 1999. As the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Southwest Texas State University from 2002 -2003, she earned a United States Artist Ford Fellowship in 2009.

She wrote the following collections of poetry: Cruelty (1973), Killing Floor (1979), Sin (1986), Fate (1991), Greed (1993), Vice: New and Selected Poems (1999), and Dread (2003). The poetess also wrote one novel, Black Blood (1997), as well as numerous articles and poems to several publications.” —Robert Fleming

Ai described herself as half Japanese, Choctaw-Chickasaw, Black, Irish, Southern Cheyenne, and Comanche.