The Library of Congress, in announcing the appointment, said Trethewey would succeed Philip Levine and officially take up her duties in the fall, around the time her fourth collection, "Thrall," is due to be published.

Trethewey, an English and creative writing professor at Emory University in Atlanta, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her collection "Native Guard." In addition to poetry, she is the author of a non-fiction book, "Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast."

Trethewey, 46, was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and becomes the first U.S. poet laureate from the South since Robert Penn Warren, who was appointed to the job in 1944.

"Her poems dig beneath the surface of history — personal or communal, from childhood or from a century ago — to explore the human struggles that we all face," Librarian of Congress James Billington said in a statement.

Trethewey, who also is serving as poet laureate of Mississippi, will reside in the Washington, D.C., area from January through May.

Poet laureates, who are selected for a one-year term by the librarian of Congress, have few specific duties but in recent years have initiated projects to broaden the audience for poetry.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Eric Beech)

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