Jack Marshall (born 1936) is an American poet and author. He was born to an

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i father, and a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

mother of Jewish heritage.

Early life

Jack Marshall was born in February 25, 1936 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. He was raised speaking Arabic in a

Mizrahi Jewish Mizrahi Jews (), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () in plural and ''Mizrahi'' () in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jews, Jewish c ...

household, ruled by traditional Arab Jewish culture. His father worked in the fabric industry. He attended public school as well as a

Hebrew school Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning one's Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Heb ...

in his neighborhood. Marshall attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, where he studied literature. The

Young Men's Hebrew Association A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social, and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations, ...

(YMHA) is where he attended night classes in poetry in 1960 with poets

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

and

Stanley Kunitz Stanley Jasspon Kunitz (; July 28, 1905May 14, 2006) was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000. Biography Kunitz was born in Worcester, Massac ...

Career and accolades

He is the author of numerous books and poems which reflect and explore his cultural heritage. Two examples, ''From Baghdad to Brooklyn: Growing Up in a Jewish-Arabic Family in Midcentury America'', along with ''Millennium Fever:Poems'', proved very successful. He was awarded the PEN West Award and was also a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".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 ...

in 2008.

Personal life

He has lived in

El Cerrito, California El Cerrito (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Little Hill") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, and forms part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a population of 25,962 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

since the early 2000s.

Works

* ''The Darkest Continent'', For Now Press, (1967) * ''Bearings'', Harper & Row, (1970) * ''Floats'', Cedar Creek Press, (1971). * ''Bits of Thirst'', Blue Wind Press, (1976) * ''Arriving on the Playing Fields of Paradise'', Jazz Press, (1983) * ''Arabian Nights'', Coffee House Press, (1987) * ''Sesame'', Coffee House Press, (1993) * ''Millennium Fever'', Coffee House Press, (1996) * ''Chaos Comics'', Pennywhistle Press, (1994) * ''Gorgeous Chaos; New & Selected Poems'', Coffee House Press, (2002) * ''From Baghdad to Brooklyn'' Coffee House Press, (October 1, 2005)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Jack Living people 1936 births American male poets American writers of Iraqi descent American people of Iraqi-Jewish descent American people of Syrian-Jewish descent American writers of Syrian descent American people of Syrian descent American people of Iraqi descent Iraqi Jews Jewish American poets Writers from Brooklyn Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty American poets American Arabic-language poets 21st-century American Jews