David St. John (born July 24, 1949) is an American poet.

Biography

Born in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, he was educated at

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, where he studied with poet Philip Levine, and at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, receiving an M.F.A. in 1974. He is the author of nine books of poetry, including ''Study for the World's Body: New and Selected Poems'' (1994), ''No Heaven'' (1985), and ''Hush'' (1976), as well as a volume of essays, interviews and reviews entitled ''Where the Angels Come Toward Us''. His most recent work is ''The Last Troubadour'' (Ecco, 2017). His awards include the Discover/The Nation prize, the James D. Phelan Prize, the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

fellowship in literature, and the

O.B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize The O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize was awarded by the Folger Shakespeare Library to honor a U.S. poet whose art and teaching demonstrated great imagination and daring.

(2001), a career award for teaching and poetic achievement. He has also received several

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 feder ...

Fellowships (1976, 1984, 1994) a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

(1994), and a grant from the

Ingram Merrill Foundation The Ingram Merrill Foundation was a private foundation established in the mid-1950s by poet James Merrill (1926-1995), using funds from his substantial family inheritance.J. D. McClatchyBraving the Elements ''The New Yorker'', 27 March 1995. Retriev ...

. His work has been published in many literary magazines, including ''The New Yorker,'' ''Paris Review,'' ''Poetry,'' ''American Poetry Review,'' ''Antaeus,'' ''Harper's,'' and ''The New Republic,'' and has been widely anthologized. St. John was judge for the 2009

Cider Press Review Book Award ''Cider Press Review'' (CPR) is a small-press literary journal, published from San Diego, California, United States. It was founded in 1999 as a journal of contemporary poetry by editors Caron Andregg and Robert Wynne. The journal of poetry is p ...

. St. John has taught creative writing at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. He currently teaches in the English Department at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in Los Angeles, where he serves as Chair, and is one of the founding members of the USC PhD in Creative Writing & Literature. In 2017, he was elected a Chancellor of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...

."David St. John"
Poets.org He is married to the poet Anna Journey and lives in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

Works

Poetry

* ''Hush'' (1976) * ''The Shore'' (1980) * ''No Heaven'' (1985) * ''Terraces of Rain: An Italian Sketchbook'' (1991) * ''Study for the World's Body: New and Selected Poems'' (1994) (

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) 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. ...

finalist) * ''In the Pines: Lost Poems 1972–1997'' (1999) * ''The Red Leaves of Night'' (1999) * ''Prism'' (2002) (with photographs by Lance Patigian) * ''The Face: A Novella in Verse'' (2004) * ''The Auroras'' (2012) * ''The Window'' (2014) * ''The Last Troubadour: Selected and New Poems'' (2017) * ''Prayer for My Daughter'' (2024)

Limited Editions

* ''For Lerida'' (1973) * ''The Olive Grove'' (1980) * ''A Folio of Lost Worlds'' (1981) * ''The Man in the Yellow Gloves'' (1985) * ''The Orange Piano'' (1987) * "Peruvian Portals" with mezzotint engravings by artist Holly Downing (2013)

Prose

* ''Where the Angels Come Toward Us: Selected Essays, Reviews, and Interviews'' (1995)

References

External links

St. John's poem "Iris" 1991

Cortland Review interview 1999 by Charles Harper Webb

David St. John interviewed by

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

, March 1999.
Poetry.LA's
video of David St. John's reading at Red Hen Press/Annenberg Community Beach House poetry series, 8/18/09. {{DEFAULTSORT:St. John, David 1949 births American male poets Living people California State University, Fresno alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni National Endowment for the Arts Fellows