__NOTOC__ Jean Valentine (April 27, 1934December 29, 2020) was an American poet. Over a six-decade career, Valentine published 14 collections of poetry. She received the 2004

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

for ''Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003'', and was a finalist for the 2011

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award came five years after the first Pulitzers were awarded in other categories; Joseph Pulitzer's will had not ment ...

for ''Break the Glass''. In celebrating the later, the committee of judges noted, “This is a collection in which small details can accrue great power and a reader is never sure where any poem might lead.” Throughout her career, Valentine served on the Creative Writing faculty of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

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 ...

, and

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

. Among numerous awards and honors, she was the recipient of 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 ...

, the

Bollingen Prize The Bollingen Prize for Poetry is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet. Every two years, the award recognizes a poet for best new volume of work or lifetime achievement. It is awarded without nominations or submissions by the Beinecke R ...

, and the Yale Younger Poets Prize. Additionally, Valentine served as Poet Laureate of New York from 2008 to 2010. Often celebrated for her minimalist poetics, fellow poet

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

once described her verse as “rapturous, risky, shy of words but desperately true to them.”

Biography

Valentine was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, on April 27, 1934. Her father was a

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

man. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and lived most of her life in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she died on December 29, 2020. Her most recent book, ''Shirt In Heaven'', was published in 2015. Before that, ''Break the Glass'', published in 2010, was a finalist for the 2011

."Poetry"
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-04-08. Valentine's first book, ''Dream Barker'' (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 1965), was chosen in 1964 for the

Yale Series of Younger Poets The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...

and won the competition the following year. She published poems widely in literary journals and magazines, including ''The New Yorker,'' and ''Harper's Magazine,'' and ''The American Poetry Review.'' Valentine was one of five poets, including Charles Wright,

Russell Edson Russell Edson (né Edelstein; 12 December 1928 – April 29, 2014) was an American poet, novelist, writer, and illustrator. He was the son of the cartoonist-screenwriter Gus Edson and Gladys Cedar Edson. Born in Manhattan, New York City, Edson ...

, James Tate and

Louise Glück Louise Elisabeth Glück ( ; April 22, 1943 – October 13, 2023) was an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existe ...

, whose work Lee Upton considered critically in ''The Muse of Abandonment: Origin, Identity, Mastery in Five American Poets'' (Bucknell University Press, 1998). She held residencies from

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

, the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The program was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDo ...

, Ucross, and the Lannan foundation, among others. She taught with the Graduate Writing Program at

, at

, at the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the You ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, and at

. She was a faculty member at the

Vermont College of Fine Arts Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level college affiliated with California Institute of the Arts. It offers Master's degrees in a low-residency format. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award wi ...

. She was Distinguished Poet-in-Residence for

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey, United States. It has a wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three schools. While affiliated with the Methodism, Me ...

's MFA in Poetry & Poetry in Translation. She was married to the late American historian

James Chace James Clarke Chace (October 16, 1931 – October 8, 2004) was an American historian, writing on American diplomacy and statecraft. His books include the critically acclaimed ''Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World'' (1 ...

from 1957 to 1968, and they are survived by two daughters, Sarah and

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

. Valentine died in

on December 29, 2020.

Published works

;Full-length poetry collections * ''Shirt in Heaven'' (2015,

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 by Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Bill O'Daly, and Jim Gautney, specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper C ...

) * ''Break the Glass'' (2010,

) * '' Little Boat'' (2007,

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present form ...

) * ''Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003'' (2004, Wesleyan University Press) —winner of the National Book Award * ''The Cradle of the Real Life'' (2000, Wesleyan University Press) * ''Growing Darkness, Growing Light'' (1997,

Carnegie Mellon University Press Carnegie Mellon University Press is a publisher that is part of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The press specializes in literary publishing, in particular, poetry. The press is cur ...

) * ''The Under Voice: Selected Poems'' (1995, Salmon Publishing) * ''The River at Wolf'' (1992,

Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in New Gloucester, Maine. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, MA in 1973 by five women and two men: ...

) * ''Night Lake'' (1992, Press of Appletree Alley: limited edition of 150, hand-bound, illustrated by Linda Plotkin.) * ''Home Deep Blue: New and Selected Poems'' (1989,

) * ''The Messenger'' (1979,

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

) * ''Ordinary Things'' (1974, Farrar, Straus & Giroux) * ''Pilgrims'' (1969, Farrar, Straus & Giroux) * ''Dream Barker, and Other Poems'' (1965,

) ;Anthology publications * ''Leaving New York: Writers Look Back'' ( Hungry Mind Press, 1995) ;Anthologies edited * ''The Lighthouse Keeper: Essays on the Poetry of Eleanor Ross Taylor'' ( Hobart & William Smith, 2001).

Awards and honors

* 2004

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. ...

for Poetry (for ''Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003'')"National Book Awards – 2004"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
(With acceptance speech by Valentine, essay by Dilruba Ahmed from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog, and other material.) * 1999

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

* 1991

Maurice English Poetry Award Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city *Maurice, Louisiana, a village *Maurice River, a trib ...

* 1988 Beatrice Hawley Award (for ''Home Deep Blue: New and Selected Poems'') * 1976

* 1972

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 ...

– Literature Fellowship in Poetry NEA Literature Fellowships – Creative Writing Fellows
/ref> * 1965

References

Bibliography

* Publishers Weekly Review of ''Door in the Mountain'' by Reed Business Information (Accessed via th
Seattle Public Library
and Syndetic Solutions, Inc.) * Weiner, Tim. "James Chace, Foreign Policy Thinker, Is Dead at 72". ''The New York Times'' (Late East Coast edition), October 11, 2004, p. B.7.

External links

Jean Valentine website

Video: Poetry Reading: Jean Valentine

* [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00369 Jean Valentine Papers
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

Audio: Jean Valentine Reading for WNYC Radio

* [http://catalog.loc.gov/ Library of Congress Online Catalog]
Author Website > Jean Valentine: Books/Bio

Author Website > Jean Valentine C.V.

* ttp://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/760 Academy of American Poets > Jean Valentine* ttp://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/aww_04/aww_04_01228.html ''Novel Guide'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Jean 1934 births 2020 deaths American women poets Columbia University faculty National Book Award winners National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Poets from New York (state) Poets laureate of New York (state) Radcliffe College alumni Sarah Lawrence College faculty The New Yorker people Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty Poets from Chicago Yale Younger Poets winners 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American women academics