Sterling Dominic Plumpp (born January 30, 1940) is an American poet, educator, editor, and critic.
He won a scholarship to St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas, where he discovered Greek literature and James Baldwin's work, and was inspired to become a writer.
Eventually he enrolled at Roosevelt University, majoring in psychology, while continuing to read widely.
[4] He won the Carl Sandburg Literary Prize for poetry for his 1982 book The Mojo Hands Call, I Must Go.
The Publishers Weekly review of his 1993 collection, Johannesburg & Other Poems, described Plumpp as "that rarity: a poet who looks with his ears.
[7] Plumpp took a post teaching African-American studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 1971, and went on to become a full professor there, teaching literature and creative writing until he retired with emeritus status in December 2001—having become a $1 million winner in the Illinois Lottery.