Ned Balbo (born November 19, 1959,
Mineola, New York
Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village".
...
) is 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 ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
translator
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
, and
essayist
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
.
Life
Ned Balbo grew up on
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
.
[ He was raised by Betty and Carmine Balbo, his birth mother's half-sister and her husband. His birth parents are Donald R. and Elaine D. Osterloh who were not yet married to each other. The couple had previously conceived Balbo's older sister who was raised by paternal relatives. At thirteen Balbo learned he was adopted and was informed of his birth parents' and sister's identities. This background informs his creative work.
Balbo graduated from Brentwood High School in 1977. He earned his ]Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
at Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
in 1981, his Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in 1986, and his Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
at the Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...
in 1989.[
Balbo taught poetry and prose at ]Loyola University Maryland
Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the ...
from 1990 to 2014. He was also a visiting faculty member in the MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
. He is married to poet-essayist Jane Satterfield.[
]
Poetry and style
According to Lisa Vihos in ''Verse Wisconsin'', "Balbo...gives shape and heft to the formless, fleeting past both historical and personal through his rich language." In reviewing ''The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems'' for ''JMWW'', Patricia Valdata observes that Balbo's work "raises difficult questions about home, about the relationship of parent to child, about a society's responsibility to its poor." Writing in ''Studio'', Lucas Jacob notes that in ''The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems'', "Balbo...reminds us of the grace we find in our time with each other on this 'island' of life on Earth." Lesley Wheeler, writing on-line in Kenyon Review
''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ...
, asserts that "Balbo’s complicated sense of place and his poetic resourcefulness make 'Upcycling Paumanok''worth your time, but what impresses me most are the extended narrative lyrics, the first of which appears several pages in. Balbo’s deftness at balancing story and music is often breathtaking."
In his essay "Ned Balbo's Family Narrative," published in his blog and in ''Birmingham Poetry Review'', David Katz writes, "Although Balbo’s prosodic and formal mastery enable him to rise to lyrical heights in individual poems, there’s a complex family narrative — call it a personal mythology — running through the entire body of work, starting with his first book, ''Galileo's Banquet'', that resonates powerfully from poem to poem as well as with the outside world." Katz argues, "Following ''3 Nights of the Perseids'' — a veritable book of forms... — 'The Cylburn Touch-Me-Nots''is a breakthrough for Balbo, a blossoming of the poet’s essential content... emerges with a freshness of tone in the newer book, in which overt formal virtuosity recedes in favor of a more spontaneous musicality and openness of emotion."
Balbo has written in a variety of forms
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form also refers to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data
* ...
, including blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and P ...
, sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, and nonce forms, as well as free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
Definit ...
.[ His poetic influences include Ai, Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, Robert Frost, Randall Jarrell, Denis Johnson, Weldon Kees, and others.
]
Awards
In addition to book awards, Balbo received a 2017 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 ...
Literature in Translation Fellowship. He is the recipient of three Maryland Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in poetry and the Robert Frost Foundation Poetry Award.[Lori A. May]
An interview with Ned Balbo
" ''Poets' Quarterly'' Issue 3. April 2010.
He received the John Guyon Literary Nonfiction Prize for the essay "Walt Whitman's Finches: on discretion and disclosure in autobiography and adoption," published in the literary journal ''Crab Orchard Review'' in 2002.fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
at the Sewanee Writers' Conference
The Sewanee Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer on the campus of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. The conference was started in 1989 by founding director Wyatt Prunty and the current director is Leah ...
and several times a fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
in poetry at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) is a residential artist community in Amherst, Virginia, USA. Since 1971, VCCA has offered residencies of varying lengths with flexible scheduling for international artists, writers, and composers at ...
.
Bibliography
Books
*2019 — ''The Cylburn Touch-Me-Nots'' (Criterion Books; winner of the 2019 New Criterion Poetry Prize)
*2019 — ''3 Nights of the Perseids'' (University of Evansville Press; winner of the 2018 Richard Wilbur Award
The Richard Wilbur Award is an American poetry award and publishing prize given by University of Evansville in Indiana. It is named in honor of the American poet Richard Wilbur and was established by William Baer, a professor at the University o ...
)
*2016 — ''Upcycling Paumanok'' (Measure Press)
*2010 — ''The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems'' (Story Line Press; winner of Donald Justice Poetry Prize[ and 2012 ]Poets' Prize
The Poets' Prize is awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year. The $3000 annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who ...
)
*2005 — ''Lives of the Sleepers'' (University of Notre Dame Press; winner of Ernest Sandeen Prize and '' ForeWord Magazine's'' Book of the Year Award, Gold Medal in Poetry)[
*1998 — ''Galileo’s Banquet'' ( Washington Writers' Publishing House; shared Towson University Prize for Literature with ''God's Long Summer'' by Charles Marsh)][
]
Chapbook
*2009 — ''Something Must Happen'' (Finishing Line Press)[
]
Essays
*2006 — “My Father’s Music.” ''Our Roots Are Deep with Passion:'' Creative Nonfiction ''collects new essays by Italian-American writers''. Eds. Lee Gutkind
Lee Gutkind is an American writer, speaker, and founder of the literary journal called Creative Nonfiction.
Gutkind has written or edited more than 30 books, covering a wide range of subjects from motorcycle subculture to child and adolescent ...
and Joanna Clapps Herman. New York: Other Press, 2006: 87-103.
*2003 — “Paul Is Dead, and We’re All Listening: Rumor and Revelation, 1969.” Spec. nonfiction issue of ''JMWW'' (2011).
References
External links
Interview
with Ned Balbo, conducted by Sørina Higgins.
Fire Victim
by Ned Balbo - American Life in Poetry, selected by Ted Kooser
Theodore J. Kooser (born 25 April 1939) is an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poets laureate selec ...
, U.S. Poet Laureate.
The Sugar Thief
by Ned Balbo - Poetry Foundation.
A Spell for Lamentation and Renewal
by Ned Balbo - New York Encounter 2019.
From a Son of Marco Polo in the Village of Blue People
by Ned Balbo - Iowa Review.
The Underground Tour
by Ned Balbo - The New Criterion.
Holy Wars for Us
by Ned Balbo - Verse Daily.
Desire: A Bestiary
by Ned Balbo - Verse Daily.
by Ned Balbo - Delaware Poetry Review.
by Ned Balbo - Studio Journal.
by Ned Balbo - Frost Notes, Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...
Foundation.
Chesterfield
by Ned Balbo - The Writer's Almanac, selected by Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbo, Ned
Loyola University Maryland faculty
Vassar College alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
University of Iowa alumni
Poets from New York (state)
Living people
Formalist poets
1959 births
Chapbook writers
People from Long Island
Brentwood High School (Brentwood, New York) alumni