MD
The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Poet, novelist, professor, translator
Gender:
Male
Places:
Work field:
Birth:
29 May 1950
Death:
26 October 1992
The details
Biography
Introduction
Melvin Dixon (May 29, 1950 – October 26, 1992) was an American Professor of Literature, and an author, poet and translator. He wrote about black gay men.
Biography
Born in Stamford, Connecticut, he earned a BA from Wesleyan University in 1971 and a PhD from Brown University in 1975.
In 1989, Trouble the Water won the Charles H. and N. Mildred Nilon Excellence in Minority Fiction Award. Vanishing Rooms won a Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Literature in 1992.
He was a Professor of Literature at Queens College from 1980 until his death, at age 42. He died of complications from AIDS, which he had been battling since 1969, in his hometown, one year after his partner Richard Horovitz did.