Melba Joyce Boyd is Poet Laureate of the State of Michigan and Distinguished Professor of Emerita at Wayne State University. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan and a Fulbright Scholar. She has received multiple awards for her poetry and biographies of Frances E. W. Harper (1825–1911) and Dudley Randall (1914–2000). In addition to being a Kresge Eminent Artist, she has B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Western Michigan University and a Doctor of Arts in English from the University of Michigan. A native Detroiter, Boyd grew up on both sides of the American and Canadian border, spending her summers in Tobermory, Canada, facing Lake Huron.
