Frederick Seidel

Frederick Seidel (born February 19 1936) is an American poet.

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he earned his A.B. at Harvard University in 1957.

In 1962, his first book, "Final Solutions", was initially chosen by a jury of Louise Bogan, Stanley Kunitz, and Robert Lowell for an award sponsored by the 92nd Street Y. However, both the Y and the publisher rejected the manuscript because, in their opinion, "matter in one of the poems libeled a noted living person," [cite news
last = Knox
first = Sanka
coauthors =
title = Poets' Jury Quits in Award Dispute
publisher = The New York Times
date = 1962-07-16
url =
accessdate = ] and Seidel refused to make requested changes. Ultimately, the book was published by Random House, but seventeen years would pass before Seidel published another book. His collection, "The Cosmos Poems", was commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History to celebrate the opening of the new Hayden Planetarium in 2000.

Seidel is independently wealthy and is fascinated by Ducati motorcycles, of which he owns four.

His awards include the 1980 Lamont Poetry Prize and a PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry in 2002. His book "Going Fast" was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and his most recent book, "Ooga-Booga", was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted for the 2007 International Griffin Poetry Prize.

Works

* "Final Solutions" (New York: Random House, 1963)
* "Sunrise" (New York: Viking Press, 1979)
* "Men and Woman: New and Selected Poems" (London: Chatto & Windus, 1984)
* "Poems, 1959-1979" (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989)
* "These Days" (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989)
* "My Tokyo" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1993)
* "Going Fast" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1998)
* "The Cosmos Poems" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2000)
* "Life on Earth" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2001)
* "Area Code 212" (New York, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2002)
* "The Cosmos Trilogy" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2003)
* "Ooga-Booga" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2006)
* "The Collected Poems: 1959-2009" (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2009)

Notes

References

*Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2002. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000089250.

External links

* [http://frederickseidel.com/ Frederick Seidel Online]
* [http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/546 Frederick Seidel on Poets.org]
* [http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/shortlist_2007.php?t=6 Griffin Poetry Prize biography, including audio and video clips of a reading from "Barbados"]