Howard McCord (November 3, 1932 – November 3, 2022) was an American writer. He was an emeritus professor of English at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

, where he was director of the creative writing program for most of the past quarter-century.

Early life

McCord was born in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, and raised there at the family's Joy Ranches in New Mexico. He received his BA from the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

in 1957 and his MA from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in 1958.

Teaching career

He taught at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

from 1960 to 1971 and at

from 1971 to 2000. He has been a distinguished visiting professor at

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

, Northridge, the University of Alaska at Juneau, and Dine College in Tsaile, Arizona. Along with

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

and

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

he introduced the Indian poets of the Hungry generation to the Western readers. He published

Malay Roy Choudhury Malay Roy Choudhury (born 29 October 1939) is an Indian Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s. Early life and education Malay Roy Choudhury was born in Patna, ...

's poem "Stark Electric Jesus" to enable Roy Choudhury to meet expenses during his trial at Calcutta courts during the 1960s.

Honors and awards

Among his honors and awards are two fellowships from The

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 federal ...

, two fellowships from The

Ohio Arts Council The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) is an agency serving the U.S. state of Ohio. History Established in 1965, its mission is to "foster and encourage the development of the arts and assist the preservation of Ohio's cultural heritage." Each year it awar ...

, the 1990 Ohioana Award for Poetry, the Nancy Dasher Award for his novel, ''The Man Who Walked to the Moon'', The 1988 Golden Nugget Award from the

, the D.H. Lawrence Fellowship from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, a Scholarly Achievement Award from BGSU and a research fellowship to Iceland and Lapland, a

Fulbright Award The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

to India, and a National Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. In 1996 he won the Loveless Award for the best article in ''Gun Digest''.

Work

McCord is the author of over three dozen books and has given readings from his work at more than two hundred universities. His newest books are ''Walking to Extremes in Iceland and New Mexico'', NY:McPherson, 2008; ''L'homme qui marchait sur la lune'', Paris:Gallmeister, 2008, and another edition, Quebec: Alto, 2008. His ''Complete Poems'' were published by Bloody Twin Press in 2002 and ''Swamp Songs & Tales'', Muncie:Mississinewa Press, 2007.

Selected books

* * McCord, Howard (1975) ''The Selected Poems of Howard McCord 1955 - 1971''

Crossing Press Ten Speed Press is a publishing house founded in Berkeley, California in 1971 by Phil Wood. Ten Speed Press was bought by Random House in February 2009 and is now part of their Crown Publishing Group division. History Wood worked with Barnes & ...

Trumansburg, New York Trumansburg is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 1,797 at the 2010 census. The name incorporates a misspelling of the surname of the founder, Abner Treman. The Tremans spelled their surname several different ...

ISBN 0-912278-57-9 pbk. * *Reviews of ''Walking to Extremes'': * *

Sources

* ''Contemporary Authors; Autobiography series'', volume 9, Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. and author.

References

External links

*
Howard McCord collected papers
(1953–1979) at

Howard McCord collected papers
(1964–1970) at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

Interview with McCord
on ''

Words on a Wire A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:McCord, Howard 1932 births 2022 deaths American non-fiction writers University of Texas at El Paso alumni University of Utah alumni Washington State University alumni Bowling Green State University alumni People from Bowling Green, Ohio American male poets American male non-fiction writers