Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern (February 22, 1925 - October 28, 2022) was an American poet, essayist and educator. He was the author of twenty collections of poetry and four books of essays. Stern taught literature and creative writing at Temple University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Raritan Valley Community College, and Iowa Writers' Workshop. 

From 2009, Stern was the distinguished poet-in-residence and a member of the faculty of Drew Universitys graduate program for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in poetry. In 2000, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman appointed Stern as the state's first poet laureate.

Stern's poetry was nominated for and honored with a number of awards. Leaving Another Kingdom (1990) was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. This Time: New and Selected Poems (1998) won the National Book Award in 1998. American Sonnets (2002) was a finalist for the 2003 International Griffin Poetry Prize.

Praise for Stern's poetry came late in life. One reviewer called Lucky Life, published when Stern was over 50, "a cornerstone in American poetry." He died in The Bronx, New York City when he was 97 years old.

Books
The Naming of Beasts (1973)
Rejoicings: Selected Poems 1966-72 (1973)
Lucky Life (1977) 
The Red Coal (1981)
Paradise Poems (1984) 
Lovesick (1986) 
Two Long Poems (1990)
Leaving Another Kingdom: Selected Poems (1990) 
Bread without Sugar (1992) 
Odd Mercy (1994) 
This Time: New and Selected Poems (1998) 
Last Blue (2000) 
American Sonnets (2002) 
Everything Is Burning (2005) 
Save the Last Dance: Poems (2008) 
Early Collected Poems, 1965-1992 (2010) 
In Beauty Bright (2012) 
Divine Nothingness (2015) 
Blessed As We Were: Late Selected and New Poems, 2000—2018 (2020)

 Related pages 
List of poets from North America

References

Other websites
 Author Page: Gerald Stern > W. W. Norton
 Biography: Academy of American Poets > Gerald Stern
 Still Burning - A short documentary film about Gerald Stern 
 Griffin Poetry Prize biography 
 Audio: Gerald Stern reads three poems  from his ''Early Collected Poems, 1965 - 1992
 Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip 
 Poems & Bio: Blackbird: An Online Journal of Literature and the Arts > Gerald Stern Feature
 Interview: The Jewish Week > May 13, 2009 > Late-Blooming Poet by Eric Herschthal
 Poem: A Little Poetry > Featured Poet: Grapefruit by Gerald Stern
 About Gerald Stern: IdentityTheory.com > February 2009 > Our Father > An essay by Christian Bauman that closes with thoughts on Gerald Stern's poem "Dancing" and provides behind-the-scenes views of Bauman's relationships with Stern and author Chris Hedges and of the writing of Hedges's "What Every Person Should Know About War"
 Poems: german / english in poetenladen (poetshop)
Gerald Stern Papers (Gerald Stern Papers, 1920s-2007, SC.2007.04, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh)

Category:1925 births
Category:2022 deaths
Category:American poets
Category:Drew University faculty
Category:Writers from New Jersey
Category:Writers from Pittsburgh
Category:Educators from Pittsburgh