Douglas Messerli (born May 30, 1947) is an American writer, professor, and publisher based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1976, he started ''Sun & Moon'', a magazine of art and literature, which became Sun & Moon press, and later

Green Integer Green Integer is an American publishing house of pocket-sized belles-lettres books, based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1997 by Douglas Messerli, whose former publishing house was Sun & Moon, and it is edited by Per Bregne. Gre ...

press. He has taught at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

in Philadelphia, and

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...

in Los Angeles.

Biography

Messerli grew up in a very ordinary American home. His father, a former coach, was the superintendent of the public schools, and his mother, a former schoolteacher, was a home-bound housewife. Messerli’s brother later became a football coach and teacher, and his sister works for the Iowa State Department of Education. Within this seemingly normal home life, Messerli developed at a young age a passion for theater, reading American and European figures such as

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

, and

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...

. At sixteen he traveled to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

for one year, attending school there. Upon his return to the USA, he attended the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, dropping out after this junior year to live for a period in New York City, during which time he studied dance at the Joffrey Ballet Company and worked as Assistant to Protocol at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. In 1969 he returned to Wisconsin, where he met his lifelong companion, Howard Fox, at the first

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoff ...

meeting on campus. Together they moved to Washington, D.C. in 1970. For a while, Messerli worked as a librarian at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

, but ultimately returned to finish his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. Messerli concentrated on fiction until he met critic and teacher

Marjorie Perloff Marjorie Perloff (born Gabriele Mintz; September 28, 1931 – March 24, 2024) was an Austrian-born American poetry scholar and critic, known for her study of avant-garde poetry. Perloff was a professor at Catholic University, the University of ...

, whose influence shifted his interests to poetry. In 1975 he and Fox began a journal of literature and art, ''Sun & Moon'', which focused on contemporary and experimental writing and art. In the late 1970s he began to publish books under that name by major literary figures such as

David Antin David Abraham Antin (February 1, 1932 – October 11, 2016) was an American poet, art critic, performance artist, and university professor. Education and early career Antin was born in New York City in 1932. After graduating from Brooklyn Techni ...

Charles Bernstein Charles Bernstein may refer to: * Charles Bernstein (composer) (born 1943), American composer of film and television scores * Charles Bernstein (poet) (born 1950), American poet, essayist, editor, and literary scholar {{hndis, Bernstein, Cha ...

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (February 3, 1947 – April 30, 2024) was an American writer, novelist, memoirist, poet, and filmmaker. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), ' ...

, Steve Katz,

Russell Banks Russell Earl Banks (March 28, 1940 – January 8, 2023) was an American writer of fiction and poetry. His novels are known for "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". He drew from ...

, and

Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes ( ; June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel '' Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist lite ...

. He also began writing poetry himself, and in 1979 published ''Dinner on the Lawn'' (revised in 1982). ''Some Distance'' and ''River to Rivet: A Manifesto'' followed, making up a trilogy of books of and about poetry and poetics. In the early 1980s Messerli became a professor of literature at

in Philadelphia. Commuting between Washington and Philadelphia, he continued to write, working on a new book of poetry, ''Maxims from My Mother’s Milk/Hymns to Him'', and a series of three books of combined poetry/fiction/performance collectively titled ''The Structure of Destruction'', the last volume of which, '' Letters from Hanusse'', was published under the pseudonym of Joshua Haigh. Meanwhile, Messerli returned to his first love, writing shorter and longer plays, including ''Silence All Round Marked: An Historical Play in Hysteria Writ'' (published under his own name), ''The Confirmation'', and ''A Dog Tries to Kiss the Sky: Six Short Plays'' (the latter two books published under his pseudonym, Kier Peters). The title play of this volume was performed in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and another play from this book, ''The Sorry Play'', was written in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. In 1985 Messerli left his tenure-track professorship to edit Sun & Moon Press full-time. The same year Fox was named Curator of

Contemporary Art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

, and the two of them moved to Los Angeles, where they continue to live today. Through the next eighteen years, Messerli continued to edit Sun & Moon Press and his later imprint,

, as well as writing poetry, fiction, drama and other works. He also edited ''From the Other Side of the Century: A New American Poetry 1960–1990'' and, with dramatist

Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwright, author, and poet.Mac Wellman pape ...

, ''From the Other Side of the Century II: A New American Drama 1960–1995''. In 2000 he began the ongoing series of international poetry, ''The Project for Innovative Poems Anthologies of World Poetry'', for which he projects at least 50 volumes of international writing. Recently, he began a similar series for fiction: ''1001 Great Stories''. Over the years Messerli’s poetry has transformed from a poetry centered in comedy and wit to a highly lyrical and seemingly romantically-inspired writing. But its subjects—the difficulty of communicating and the isolation of each human being—have remained the same. It has also become increasingly apparent that Messerli’s work centers on a dialogue between or interchange with the community at large and the many aspects of self. He uses several pseudonyms and personas to explore, through various forms of writing, the multitude of selves within any one being. And he has used similar strategies in his larger writing project with others. In ''Between'', for example, Messerli wrote “through” the works of poet friends, sending the results to these friends and asking them, in turn, to respond to his work. ''Bow Down'' is a book of poetry (published in both Italian and English) in which the author wrote through the writings of various contemporary Italian poets while—in several of the poems—also attending to images of art by noted Los Angeles artist

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a paint ...

. And in numerous works, Messerli’s counter-ego, Claude Ricochet—through his imaginary critical writings, films, and essays—is quoted extensively. More recently, Messerli has begun a long series of encounters with cultural events—fiction, poetry, film, dance, music, art, and personal experiences—of each year, which he projects as a series of autobiographical volumes each titled ''My Year''. He was awarded the

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

Grants to Artist award (2002). He has received numerous other awards, including the

American Book Award The American Book Awards are an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "t ...

and the ALTA Award for Dedication to Translation for his publishing. In 2004 he was named

Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant co ...

by the French government. More recently, Messerli has focused on his six on-line sites that explore poetry, fiction, cinema, American cultural treasures, drama, and general cultural experiences. His book ''Reading Films: My International Cinema'' was published in 2012.

Books

Poetry

* ''Dinner on the Lawn'' (College Park, MD: Sun & Moon Press, 1979) * ''Some Distance'' (New York: Segue Books, 1982) * ''River to Rivet: A Manifesto'' (Washington, D.C.: Sun & Moon Press, 1985) * ''Maxims from My Milk/Hymns to Him: A Dialogue'' (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1988) * ''After'' (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1998) * ''Bow Down'', with

(Piacenza, Italy: ML & NLF, 2002) * ''First Words'' (Los Angeles:

, 2004) * ''Dark'' (Los Angeles:

, 2012) * ''Stay'' (Los Angeles:

, 2018)

Plays

* ''A Dog Tries to Kiss the Sky: Seven Short Plays'', as Kier Peters (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 2003) * ''The Confirmation'', as Kier Peters (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 2004)

Fiction

* '' Letters from Hanusse'', as Joshua Haigh (Los Angeles:

, 2000)

Non-fiction

* ''Reading Films: My International Cinema'' (Los Angeles:

, 2012) * ''On Marriage: The Imagination of Being'' (Los Angeles, Magra Books, 2018) * ''My Year 2000: Leaving Something Behind'' (Los Angeles:

, 2018) * ''My Year 2001: Keeping History a Secret'' (Los Angeles:

, 2016) * ''My Year 2002: Love, Death, and Transfiguration'' (Los Angeles:

, 2015) * ''My Year 2003: Voice Without a Voice'' (Los Angeles:

, 2013) * ''My Year 2004: Under Our Skin'' (Los Angeles:

, 2008) * ''My Year 2005: Terrifying Times'' (Los Angeles:

, 2010) * ''My Year 2006: Serving'' (Los Angeles:

, 2009) * ''My Year 2007: To the Dogs'' (Los Angeles:

, 2015) * ''My Year 2008: In the Gap'' (Los Angeles:

, 2015) * ''My Year 2009: Facing the Heat'' (Los Angeles:

, 2016) * ''My Year 2010: Shadows'' (Los Angeles:

, 2017) * ''My Year 2011: No One's Home'' (Los Angeles:

, 2018) * ''My Year 2012: Centers Collapse'' (Los Angeles:

, 2019) * ''My Year 2013: Murderers and Angels'' (Los Angeles:

, 2019)

Edited

* ''Language Poetries: An Anthology'' (New York: New Directions, 1987) * '' From the Other Side of the Century: A New American Poetry 1960–1990'' (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1995) * ''From the Other Side of the Century II: A New American Drama 1960-1995'' (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1998) * ''Listen to the Mockingbird: American Folksongs and Popular Music Lyrics of the 19th Century'' (Los Angeles:

, 2004) * ''1001 Great Stories, Volume 1'' (Los Angeles:

, 2005) * ''1001 Great Stories, Volume 2'' (Los Angeles:

, 2005) * ''The PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 1'' (Los Angeles:

, 2000) * ''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 2'' (Los Angeles:

, 2000) * ''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 3: Nothing the Sun Could Not Explain—20 Contemporary Brazilian Poets'' (Los Angeles:

, 2001) * ''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 4'' (Los Angeles:

, 2004) * ''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 5: Intersections—Innovative Poetry in Southern California'' (Los Angeles:

, 2005) * ''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 6: Living Space: Poems of the Dutch Fiftiers'' (Los Angeles:

, 2006) * ''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century, Volume 7: At Villa Aurora: Nine Contemporary Poets Writing in German'' (Los Angeles:

, 2006)

Honors, awards, and grants

Carey–Thomas Award ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

for Creative Publishing, 1987 * The Harry Ford Editing Award, 1994 * American Book Award for Publishing, 1998 *

, Grants to Artists, Poetry, 2002 *

Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant co ...

(France), 2003 * Beyond Baroque's Distinguished Service Award, 2024

References

External links

Green Integer website

* ttp://worldartsreview.com/ ''World Arts Review'' Douglas Messerli's blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Messerli, Douglas American male poets 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American publishers (people) Writers from Waterloo, Iowa Living people 1947 births American male dramatists and playwrights Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 20th-century American male writers