Carol Hamilton

Carol Hamilton (born August 24, 1935) was the Oklahoma Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997.

Biography
Carol Jean Hamilton was born on August 24th, 1935 in Enid, Oklahoma. Her mother, Ruby Barber, was also a poet and a professor at Rose State College and Midwest City High School. Hamilton graduated Midwest City High School in 1953, received her bachelor's degree from Phillips University in 1956, and later a master's degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. She taught at Midwest City Del City schools, Rose State College, and the University of Central Oklahoma. She helped found the Woody Guthrie Poets in 2004.

Her book Once the Dust published by Broncho Press was a 1992 Oklahoma Book Award winner. She won the 1987 and 1992 Byline Literary award for "The Summary" and "In the Distance," respectively. She was nominated five times for a Pushcart Prize. Her work has been published in many journals, including Christian Science Monitor, Christian Century, Arizona Quarterly, Quartet, The Prairie Poet, Encounter, Audit, Discourse, Quoin, New Campus Review, Roanoke Review, and Cimarron Review. Her poem "Patterns" appears in the 1983 anthology Peace: A Poetry Anthology created as a fundraiser for the Benedictine Peace House.