Jonathan Galassi (born 1949 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington) has served as the president and publisher of ''

Farrar, Straus and 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 P ...

'' and is currently the Chairman and Executive Editor.

Early life

Galassi was born in Seattle (his father worked as an attorney for the Justice Department), but he grew up in Plympton, Massachusetts. He attended

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

, where he became interested in poetry, writing and literature. He attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, where he studied English with instructors including

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 Elizabeth Bishop, and served as an editor of the ''Harvard Lampoon'' and the president of the ''Harvard Advocate''. He graduated in 1971, then became a Marshall Scholar at Christ's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. He realized while attending Christ’s College that he wanted a career in book publishing.

Career

Galassi began his publishing career as an editorial intern at

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

in Boston in 1973. He moved to

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in New York, and then in 1986 to Farrar, Straus & Giroux (FSG), after being fired from

. Two years later, he was named editor-in-chief, and served as the president and publisher at FSG until 2018.Profile: ''Harvard Magazine'' > ''Editor Extraordinaire Jonathan Galassi on the Risky Art of Publishing Books''
/ref> He was succeeded as Publisher by Mitzi Angel in 2018, and Angel was named President in 2021. Galassi is currently the Chairman and Executive Editor. Galassi is also a translator of poetry and a poet himself. He has translated and published the poetic works of the Italian poets Giacomo Leopardi and Eugenio Montale. His honors as a poet include a 1989

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 ...

, and his activities include having been poetry editor for ''The Paris Review'' for ten years, and being an honorary chairman of the Academy of American Poets. He has published poems in literary journals and magazines including ''Threepenny Review,'' ''The New Yorker, The Nation'' and the Poetry Foundation website. He is also a trustee at his alma mater Exeter.

Personal life

Galassi lives in Brooklyn. He was married to Susan Grace, with whom he has two daughters. The couple divorced in late 2011. He is gay. His brother is Peter Galassi.

Bibliography

Poetry

Collections

* ''Morning Run: Poems'' (Lathan, NY: Paris Review Editions/British American Pub., 1988) * ''North Street: Poems'' (New York: HarperCollins, 2000) * ''Left-handed: Poems'' (New York: Knopf, 2012)

Translations

* ''The Second Life of Art: Selected Essays of Eugenio Montale'' (Ecco Press, 1982) * ''Otherwise: Last and First Poems of Eugenio Montale'' (Vintage Books, 1984) * ''Collected poems, 1920-1954: Eugenio Montale'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998) * ''A Boy Named Giotto by Paolo Guarnieri'' (pictures by Bimba Landmann; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999) * ''Selected Poems of Eugenio Montale'' (translated by Jonathan Galassi, Charles Wright, and David Young; edited with an introduction by David Young; Oberlin College Press, 2004) * '' Canti'' by Giacomo Leopardi (translated and annotated by Jonathan Galassi; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010)

List of poems

Novels

* ''Muse'' (New York: Knopf, 2015) * ''School Days: a Novel'' (New York: Other Press, 2022)

Sources

Library of Congress Online Catalog > Jonathan Galassi

References

External links

Video Interview: ''Charlie Rose'' > February 19, 1999 > ''A Conversation with Editor Jonathan Galassi''

Interview: ''Poets & Writers'' > July 1, 2009 > ''Agents & Editors: A Q&A with Jonathan Galassi'' by Jofie Ferrari-Adler

Poem: ''The Nation'' > September 27, 2000 > ''Bequest'' by Jonathan Galassi

Poem: ''The New Yorker'' > April 20, 2009 > ''Lunch Poem for F.S.'' by Jonathan Galassi

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110604020451/http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/Cynthia/articles/Serious_Years.html Review: A Review by Cynthia Haven of ''North Street'' by Jonathan Galassi* Jonathan Galassi Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Galassi, Jonathan 1949 births Living people American publishers (people) American male poets American translators American book editors American gay writers American LGBTQ poets Harvard College alumni Marshall Scholars Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Writers from Seattle Gay poets LGBTQ people from Washington (state) Poets from New York (state) The New Yorker people Harvard Advocate alumni The Harvard Lampoon alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni