Lloyd Schwartz (born November 29, 1941) is an American poet, and the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English Emeritus at the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus Un ...

. He was the classical music editor of ''

The Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' a ...

'', a publication that is now defunct. He is Poet Laureate of Somerville, Massachusetts (2019-2021), Senior Music Editor at New York Arts and the Berkshire Review for the Arts, and a regular commentator for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...

''.

Biography

Lloyd Schwartz was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, graduated from

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

in 1962 and earned his Ph.D. from

Harvard 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 ...

in 1976. Schwartz's books of poetry include '' Who's on First? New and Selected Poems'' (University of Chicago Press,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

), ''Little Kisses'' (University of Chicago Press,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, ''Cairo Traffic'' (University of Chicago Press,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) and the chapbook ''Greatest Hits 1973-2000'' (Pudding House Press, 2003), which were preceded by ''Goodnight, Gracie'' (

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

) and ''These People'' (

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

). He co-edited the collection ''Elizabeth Bishop and Her Art'' (University of Michigan Press, 1983). In 1990, he adapted ''These People'' for the Poets' Theatre in a production called ''These People: Voices for the Stage,'' which he also directed. Schwartz was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Criticism The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by C ...

in 1994 for his work with ''

''. and the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Poetry in 2019. Schwartz served as co-editor of an edition of the collected works of

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American people, American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the N ...

for the Library of America, entitled ''Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters'' (2008) and edited the centennial edition of Elizabeth Bishop's Prose for Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2011). His poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in ''The New Yorker,'' ''The Atlantic,'' ''The Wall Street Journal,'' ''Vanity Fair,'' ''The New Republic,'' ''The Paris Review,'' ''Ploughshares,'' ''Agni,'' ''The Pushcart Prize,'' ''The Best American Poetry,'' and ''The Best of the Best American Poetry.'' Between 1968 and 1982 he worked as an actor in the Harvard Dramatic Club, HARPO, The Pooh Players, Poly-Arts, and the NPR series ''The Spider's Web,'' playing such roles as Scrooge (''A Christmas Carol''), the Mock Turtle (''Alice in Wonderland''), Froth (''Measure for Measure''), Trofimov (''The Cherry Orchard''), Zeal-of-the-Land Busy (''Bartholomew Fair''), The Worm (''In the Jungle of Cities''), Krapp (''Krapp's Last Tape''), the Disciple John (''Jesus: A Passion Play for Cambridge''), and played a leading role in Russell Merritt's short satirical film ''The Drones Must Die.'' He also directed two operas, Ravel's ''L'Heure Espagnole'' (Boston Summer Opera Theatre) and Stravinsky's ''Mavra'' (New England Chamber Opera Group), 1972. He has appeared in The Poets' Theatre performances of Dylan Thomas's ''Under Milk Wood'' (2014) and ''The Word Exchange'' (2015).

References

Queens College, City University of New York alumni 1941 births Harvard University alumni Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners Classical music radio presenters Living people University of Massachusetts Boston faculty 20th-century American poets 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male poets American male non-fiction writers Writers from Brooklyn Poets from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers {{US-poet-1940s-stub