Daniel Borzutzky is a Chicago-based poet and translator. His collection ''The Performance of Becoming Human'' won the 2016 National Book Award. The son of Chilean immigrants, Borzutzky's work often addresses immigration, worker exploitation, political corruption, and economic disparity. He received a BA from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in 1997 and an MFA from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

in 2000. Borzutzky has received fellowships from the

Illinois Arts Council The Illinois Arts Council is a government agency of the state of Illinois formed to encourage development of the arts throughout Illinois. Founded in 1965 by the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Arts Council provides financial and technica ...

and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. He is an Associate Professor of English and Latino Studies at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

. His 2018 collection Lake Michigan was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. In 2021 he published Written After a Massacre in the Year 2018, which was reviewed in The New Yorker and was a finalist for the Chicago Review of Books Poetry Award. His other books include In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy; Memories of my Overdevelopment; and The Book of Interfering Bodies. Alongside his writing, Borzutzky is also known for his work as a translator. He received the 2017

American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is an organization in the United States dedicated to literary translation. ALTA promotes literary translation through its annual conference, which draws hundreds of translators and literary profes ...

National Translation Award The National Translation Award is awarded annually by the American Literary Translators Association for literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book o ...

for his translation of ’s ''Valdivia'' (Co-im-press, 2016) and a

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant The PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants were established in 2003 by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) following a gift of $730,000 by Michael Henry Heim, a noted literary translator. Heim believed that there was a 'dismayingly low number of ...

for his translation of ''The Country of Planks'' (Action Books, 2015) by the Chilean poet Raúl Zurita.

Works

Poetry

;Full-length collections: * * ''Lake Michigan'', University of Pittsburgh Press. 2018. , * '' The Performance of Becoming Human'' Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Arts Press. 2016. , * ''In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy'' Brooklyn, N.Y.: Nightboat Books. 2015. , * ''The Book of Interfering Bodies'' Brooklyn, N.Y.: Nightboat Books. 2011. , * ''The Ecstasy of Capitulation'' Buffalo, N.Y.: Blaze Vox Books. 2007. , ; Chapbooks: * ''Bedtime Stories for the End of the World'' Bloof Books, 2014. * ''Data Bodies'' (Holon, 2013) * ''Failure in the imagination'', Milwaukee, WI: Bronze Skull Press, 2007. ;Poetry/essay: * ''Memories of my Overdevelopment'', Chicago: Kenning Editions, 2015. * ''Arbitrary tales'', Triple Press: 2005. ,

Translations

* Galo Ghigliotto, ''Valdivia'' (co•im•press, 2016) * Raúl Zurita, ''The Country of Planks'' (Action Books, 2015) * Raúl Zurita, ''Song for his Disappeared Love'' (Action Books, 2010) * , ''Port Trakl'' (Action Books, 2008)

Honors

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

, ''The Performance of Becoming Human'' (2016) *

for Poetry (2017) *

, Raúl Zurita's ''El País de Tablas'' (''The Country of Planks'') (2013) * National Endowment for the Arts Grant (2013) *

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

shortlist, ''Lake Michigan'' (2019)

References

External links

Profile at the National Book Foundation website

Profile at Poetry Foundation website
Living people American male poets Poets from Illinois Poets from Pennsylvania National Book Award winners 21st-century American poets 21st-century American translators American people of Chilean descent Wilbur Wright College faculty University of Illinois Chicago faculty 21st-century American male writers 1974 births {{US-poet-1970s-stub