Merrill Daniel Gilfillan (born 14 May 1945) is an American writer of poetry, short fiction, and essays.

Life and work

Gilfillan was born and raised in

Mount Gilead, Ohio Mount Gilead is a village in and the county seat of Morrow County, Ohio, United States. It is located northeast of Columbus. The population was 3,503 at the 2020 census. It is the center of population of Ohio. The village was established in 1 ...

, where his outdoorsman father (Merrill C. Gilfillan) worked as a naturalist for the state's Department of Natural Resources and helped inspire an early fascination with the natural world and its creatures. Gilfillan graduated in 1967 from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. He attended the University of

Iowa Writer's Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

for two years, studying with

Ted Berrigan Edmund Joseph Michael Berrigan Jr. (November 15, 1934 – July 4, 1983) was an American poet. Early life Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining ...

Anselm Hollo Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo (12 April 1934 – 29 January 2013) was a Finnish poet and translator. He lived in the United States from 1967 until his death in January 2013. Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the United Kingdom and ...

, and

George Starbuck George Edwin Starbuck (June 15, 1931 in Columbus, Ohio – August 15, 1996 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) was an American poet of the neo-formalist school. Life Starbuck studied at Chadwick School, the California Institute of Technology, the Universi ...

, among others. He lived and worked 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 ...

for eight years and then moved to

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, which served as a base for frequent expeditions to the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

and other regions of America from which he reports in essays, poetry, and short stories. He now lives in

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

, North Carolina.

Books

''Poetry'' *''Truck'', Angel Hair Books, New York, 1970 *''9:15'', Doones Press, Bowling Green, OH, 1970 *''Skyliner'', Blue Wind Press, Berkeley, 1974 *''To Creature'', Blue Wind Press, Berkeley, 1975 *''Light Years: Selected Early Poems'', Blue Wind Press, Berkeley, 1977 *''River through Rivertown'', The Figures, Great Barrington, MA, 1982 *''Coppers and Blues'', Plum Pit, Boulder, 1997 *''On Heart River'', Dayo, Denver, 1995 *''Satin Street'', Moyer Bell, Wakefield, RI, 1997 *''The Seasons'', Adventures in Poetry, New York , Boston, 2002 *''Small Weathers'', Qua Books, Jamestown, RI, 2004 *''Undanceable,'' Flood Editions, Chicago, 2005 *''Selected Poems 1965-2000'', Adventures in Poetry, New York & Boston 2005 *''The Bark of the Dog,'' Flood Editions, Chicago, 2010 *''Harpsichord Hills'', Horse Less Press, Grand Rapids, MI, 2013 *''Red Mavis,'' Flood Editions, Chicago 2014 *
Would-be Dogwood
', Shirt Pocket Press Grand Rapids, MI, 2017 *''Old River, New River,'' Red Dragonfly Press, Northfield, MN, 2019 *''Three Roans in the Shallows, One of Them Blue: Selected Poems]'', Flood Editions, Chicago, 2014 ''Essays'' *
Magpie Rising: Sketches from the Great Plains
', Pruett , Vintage , Bison, 1988 , 1990 , 2003 *''Burnt House to Paw Paw: Appalachian Notes'', Hard Press, West Stockbridge, MA, 1997 *''Chokecherry Places: Essays from the High Plains'', Johnson Books, Boulder, 1998 *''Rivers & Birds'', Johnson Books, Boulder, 2003 *''The Warbler Road,'' Flood Editions, Chicago, 2010 ''Fiction'' *''Sworn Before Cranes'', Crown, New York, 1994 *''Grasshopper Falls'', Hanging Loose, Brooklyn, 2000 *
Talk Across Water
'' Flood Editions, Chicago, 2019 ''Drawings'' *''Distant Rivers'', Prairie Rose Press, Muscatine, IA, 2013

Interviews

*''Chicago Review'', Winter, 2013 *''L’Art du paysage'', vol. 7, "Motifs du Paysage Nord-American," Vincent Dussol, Paris, 2014 *''The Believer,'
"An Interview with Merrill Gilfillan"
Martin Riker, April 18, 2019

Awards

*1967, Major

Hopwood Award The Hopwood Awards are a major scholarship program at the University of Michigan, founded by Avery Hopwood. Under the terms of the will of Avery Hopwood, a prominent American dramatist and member of the class of 1905 of the University of Michigan ...

for poetry,

*1989,

PEN PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction for ''Magpie Rising'' *1998, Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction for ''Chokecherry Places''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilfillan, Merrill 1945 births 20th-century American poets Living people University of Michigan alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni People from Mount Gilead, Ohio 21st-century American poets American male poets American male essayists 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers