Robert Nichols (15 July 1919-October 14, 2010) was an American poet, playwright, novelist, and architect. Born Robert Brayton Nichols in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

15 July 1919, Nichols served as an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and attended and earned two degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, the first a

bachelors A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

and the second in

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

. His work in landscape architecture includes a redesign of Washington Square Park. Nichols' poetry includes the volumes ''Red Shift'' (1977), and ''Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train'' (1962, number 15 in the City Lights Pocket Poets Series). He also wrote the short story collection, ''In the Air'' (1991), and novels, including ''From the Steam Room'' (1993), and a four-part series of

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

s set in the utopia Nghsi-Altai. Nichols was a co-founder of the Judson Poets Theatre, and participated in the Theater for the New City and the

Bread and Puppet Theater The Bread and Puppet Theater (often known simply as Bread & Puppet) is a politically radical puppet theater, active since the 1960s, based in Glover, Vermont . The theater was co-founded by Elka and Peter Schumann. Peter is the artistic directo ...

. Nichols' first marriage was to the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' editor, Mary Perot Nichols, which ended in divorce in 1969. Nichols married author Grace Paley in 1972, and they remained married until her death in 2007.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:nichols, robert 1919 births 2010 deaths American male poets American male novelists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American landscape architects Writers from Worcester, Massachusetts Harvard University alumni 20th-century American male writers

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