Henri Cole

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person Henri Cole (born May 9, 1956) is an American poet, who has published many collections of poetry and a memoir. His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic.

Biography

Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, to an American father and French-Armenian<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> mother, and raised in Virginia, United States. His father, a North Carolinian, enlisted in the service after graduating from high school and, while stationed in Marseille, met Cole's mother, who worked at the PX. Together they lived in Japan, Germany, Illinois, California, Nevada, Missouri and Virginia, where Cole attended public schools and the College of William and Mary. He has published twelve collections of poetry in English.

From 1982 until 1988 he was executive director of The Academy of American Poets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since that time he has held many teaching positions and been artist-in-residence at various institutions, including Brandeis University, Columbia University, Davidson College, Harvard University, Ohio State University, Reed College, Smith College, The College of William and Mary, and Yale University. He has collaborated with the visual artists Jenny Holzer and Kiki Smith.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> And from 2010 to 2014, he was poetry editor of The New Republic. Cole currently teaches at Claremont McKenna College.

Books of poetry

• 2025: The Other Love, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
• 2023: Gravity and Center (Selected Sonnets, 1994-2022), New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
• 2023: Blizzard (German translation by Henning Ahrens), Munich: Hanser Verlag, Edition Lyrik Kabinett
• 2021: Der sichtbare Mensch, Ausgewählte Gedicht (German translation by Hans Raimund), Vienna: Löcker
• 2020: Blizzard, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2015: Nothing to Declare, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2015: Le Merle, Le Loup suivi de Toucher (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Le bruit du temps<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2011: Touch, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2011: Terre Médiane (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Le bruit du temps<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2010: Mirlo y Lobo (Spanish translation by Eduardo López Truco), Cantabria: Quálea Editorial<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2010: Autoritratto con Gatti (Italian translation by Massimo Bacigalupo), Parma: Guanda Editore<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2010: Pierce the Skin (Selected Poems, 1982-2007), New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2008: La Apariencia de la Cosas (Spanish translation by Eduardo López Truco), Cantabria: Quálea Editorial<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2007: Blackbird and Wolf, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2005: Vingt-Deux Poèmes (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Yvon Lambert<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2003: Middle Earth, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1998: The Visible Man, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1995: The Look of Things<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1989: The Zoo Wheel of Knowledge<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1986: The Marble Queen<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Books of prose

• 2020: باريس الأورفيّة: السّياحة الأدبية في باريس (Orphic Paris, Arabic translation by Amani Lazar), United Arab Emirates: Rewayat Books<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2018: Orphic Paris, New York, New York Review Books<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2018: Paris-Orphée (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Le bruit du temps<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and honors

• 2021 — James Merrill House, Writer-in-Residence
• 2017 — American Academy of Arts and Letters, Elected Member
• 2016 — American Academy of Arts and Letters, Award of Merit Medal in Poetry<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2014 — Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, Fellow<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2012 — The Thom Gunn Award for Poetry for Touch,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Publishing Triangle
• 2012 — The Jackson Poetry Prize, Poets & Writers<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2011 — Harvard University Phi Beta Kappa poet<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2011 — Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Award in Poetry for Pierce the Skin (Selected Poems 1982-2007)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2010 — American Academy of Arts & Sciences, elected member<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2009 — Sara Teasdale Award in Poetry, Wellesley College
• 2009 — National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship
• 2008 — Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Blackbird and Wolf, Academy of American Poets<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2008 — Ambassador Book Award in Poetry for Blackbird and Wolf, English-Speaking Union of the United States<ref>Ambassador Book Award</ref>
• 2008 — Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry for Blackbird and Wolf<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2008 — Lambda Literary Award in Poetry for Blackbird and Wolf<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2007 — United States Artists USA Hildreth/Williams Fellow, Literature<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 — Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for Middle Earth<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 — John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 — Award in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 — Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Middle Earth<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 — Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Award in Poetry for Middle Earth<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2004 — Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry for Middle Earth<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2001 — Japan-United States Friendship Commission, Creative Artist Fellowship<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2000 — Berlin Prize, American Academy in Berlin<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1995 — Rome Prize in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1993 — National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989 — Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1985 — Ingram Merrill Foundation Award (also 1990)<ref>Ingram Merrill Foundation</ref>

Personal life

Cole is openly gay, though in his early work he turned to "nature as a mask for writing about private feelings."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He came out as he "felt a need to speak as a gay man, since until recently we were not encouraged by society to love one another, marry, and have children. So if I have an ethics, it is simply to be true, but never at the expense of original language."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Official website
• Academy of American Poets -- Henri Cole's webpage
• THE NATION -- "The Art of Violent Concision"
• THE NEW REPUBLIC -- "Making a Soul"
• A personal essay: "How I Grew"
• An interview: "What is American about American poetry"
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• Twitter -- @colehenri
• Instagram -- @heronlice