She is a scholar of American, African American, and Caribbean literatures and cultures and a creative writer. Her articles and poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including, most recently, Essence magazine. She is the author of A Critical Companion to Toni Morrison (2007) and has a contract for another book on the life and works of novelist Alice Walker. In 2005, Carmen was the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship for Excellence in Poetry. She is a Cave Canem Fellow and a Fulbright scholar and has received awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.