
Anthony Dey Hoagland (November 19, 1953 – October 23, 2018) was an American
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
. His poetry collection, ''What Narcissism Means to Me'' (2003), was 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".[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 ...]
, a 2000
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 Poetry, and a fellowship to the Provincetown
Fine Arts Work Center
The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise that supports emerging visual artists and writers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The Work Center was founded in 1968 by a group of American artists and writers to support promising individual ...
.
[ His poems and criticism have appeared in such publications as '']Poetry Magazine
''Poetry'' (founded as ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'') has been published in Chicago since 1912. It is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Founded by poet and arts columnist Harriet Monroe, who built it int ...
, Ploughshares
''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...
, AGNI
Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...
, Threepenny Review, The Gettysburg Review
''The Gettysburg Review'' was a quarterly literary magazine featuring short stories, poetry, essays and reviews. Work that appeared in the magazine has been reprinted in "best-of" anthologies and received awards.
The magazine was "recognized ...
, Ninth Letter
''Ninth Letter'' is a literary magazine that publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. It is an interdisciplinary collaboration between thSchool of Art + Designand the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign ...
, Southern Indiana Review
''Southern Indiana Review'' is a literary magazine produced at the University of Southern Indiana since 1994. The journal is known for its Mary C. Mohr Awards in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Work that has appeared in the journal has been hon ...
, American Poetry Review
''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Elizab ...
'' and ''Harvard Review
''Harvard Review'' is a biannual literary journal published by Houghton Library at Harvard University.
History
In 1986 Stratis Haviaras, curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University, founded a quarterly periodical called ''Erato ...
.''
Biography
Hoagland was born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...
in 1953. His father was an Army doctor, so Hoagland grew up on various military bases in Hawaii, Alabama, Ethiopia, and Texas. He had an older sister, and a twin brother who died of a drug overdose in high school. He was educated at Williams College
Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
, the University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
(B.A.) and the University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
(M.F.A.). According to the novelist Don Lee, Hoagland "attended and dropped out of several colleges, picked apples and cherries in the Northwest, lived in communes, followed the Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
and became a Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
."[ He taught in the ]University of Houston
The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...
creative writing program. He was also on the faculty of the low-residency Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. Hoagland was married to Kathleen Lee, author of fiction, essays and travel writings. They had no children. He died in Santa Fe, New Mexico on October 23, 2018 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 64.
Literary influences and praise
In an interview with Miriam Sagan about his poetic influences, Hoagland said, "if I were going to place myself on some aesthetic graph, my dot would be equidistant between Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds (born November 19, 1942) is an American poet. She won the first San Francisco Poetry Center Award in 1980, the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. and Frank O’Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...
, between the confessional (where I started) and the social (where I have aimed myself)".
In a 2002 citation regarding Hoagland's award in Literature, The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...
said that "Hoagland's imagination ranges thrillingly across manners, morals, sexual doings, and kinds of speech lyrical and candid, intimate as well as wild."[
In 2010, Dwight Garner, a New York Times critic, wrote of Mr. Hoagland: “His erudite comic poems are backloaded with heartache and longing, and they function, emotionally, like improvised explosive devices: The pain comes at you from the cruelest angles, on the sunniest of days.”][
]
Published works
Each year links to its corresponding "ear
In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear co ...
in poetry" article:
Full-length poetry collections
* 2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
: ''Turn Up the Ocean'', Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
: ''Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God'', Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
: ''Recent Changes in the Vernacular'', Espanola, NM: Tres Chicas Books,
* 2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
: ''Application for Release from the Dream'', Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
: ''Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty'', St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
: ''What Narcissism Means to Me'', St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
: ''Donkey Gospel'', St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
: ''Sweet Ruin'', Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a Non-profit organization, non-profit university press publishing Peer review, peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic comm ...
,
Chapbooks & Broadsides
* 2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
: ''Into The Mystery'', Cambridge, MA: Yellow Moon Press
* 2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
: ''Don't Tell Anyone'', Venice, CA: Hollyridge Press
* 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
: ''Little Oceans'', Venice, CA: Hollyridge Press
* 2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
: ''Hard Rain'', Venice, CA: Hollyridge Press
* 1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
: ''History of Desire'', Tucson, AZ: Moon Pony Press
* 1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
** Spain and Portugal en ...
: ''Talking to Stay Warm'', Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press
* 1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
: ''A Change in Plans'', Sierra Vista, CA: San Pedro Press
Essay collections
* 2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
: ''The Art of Voice: Poetic Principles and Practice'', (posthumous, with Kay Cosgrove). New York City, NY: W. W. Norton & Company
* 2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
: ''Twenty Poems That Could Save America and Other Essays'', St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
* 2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
: ''Real Sofistikashun: Essays on Poetry and Craft'', St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
,
Honors and awards
* 2008 Jackson Poetry Prize
Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organizations in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The organization publishes a bi-monthly magazine called ''Poets & Writers Magazine'' ...
awarded by Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organizations in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The organization publishes a bi-monthly magazine called ''Poets & Writers Magazine'' ...
* 2005 O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize[ awarded by ]Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...
* 2005 Mark Twain Award[ awarded by ]The Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...
* 2002 Academy Award in Literature[ from ]The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...
* 2000 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 Poetry awarded by John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...
* 1997 James Laughlin Award
The James Laughlin Award, formerly the Lamont Poetry Prize, is given annually for a poet's second published book; it is the only major poetry award that honors a second book. The award is given by the Academy of American Poets, and is noted as on ...
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...
for ''Donkey Gospel''
* 1994 NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry[
* 1994 ]John C. Zacharis First Book Award
The John C. Zacharis First Book Award honors the best first book of poetry or fiction by a ''Ploughshares'' writer. The award carries a cash prize of $1,500, and feature publication in the "Postscripts" section of the Winter issue. It was started ...
[''Ploughshares'' Authors & Articles > Tony Hoagland, Zacharis Award > by Don Lee]
from ''Ploughshares
''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...
'' for ''Sweet Ruin''
* 1992 Brittingham Prize in Poetry[ for ''Sweet Ruin'' awarded by University of Wisconsin–Madison
* 1987 NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry][
]
Controversy
On February 4, 2011, Claudia Rankine presented a reading critical of how race is handled in Hoagland's poem "The Change" at the Associated Writing Programs Conference. Hoagland issued an open letter in response.
References
External links
VIDEO: ''PoetryL.A.'' > Tony Hoagland Reading at The Geffen in Westwood, CA, 2/16/09
*
Graywolf Press > Tony Hoagland Author Page
Correspondence with Gerald Stern
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoagland, Tony
1953 births
2018 deaths
American essayists
American male essayists
American male poets
Deaths from cancer in New Mexico
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in the United States
National Endowment for the Arts Fellows
The New Yorker people
People from Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Poets from North Carolina
University of Arizona alumni
University of Houston faculty
University of Iowa alumni