William Rossa Cole (November 20, 1919 – August 2, 2000) was an American editor, anthologist, columnist, author, and writer of

light verse Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play including puns, adventurous rhyme, and heavy alliteration. Typically, light ...

. He produced around 75 books, most of them anthologies. Cole was born on November 20, 1919 to William Harrison Cole and Margaret O'Donovan-Rossa of Staten Island, New York. He was the younger brother of Rossa Willam Cole. His grandfather was the Irish

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

leader

Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa ( ga, Diarmaid Ó Donnabháin Rosa; baptised 4 September 1831, died 29 June 1915)Con O'Callaghan Reenascreena Community Online (dead link archived at archive.org, 29 September 2014) was an Irish Fenian leader and member ...

. After military service in

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 opposing ...

, Cole took various jobs in the publishing industry, serving as publicity director at

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, publicity director and editor at

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

, and publisher of William Cole Books at

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

. He was also a prolific writer and anthologist, editing and authoring over 75 books, as well as columns in '' Saturday Review''. Many of his books were honoured by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

, including '' I Went to the Animal Fair: A Book of Animal Poems'' (named a notable book of 1958, and on the List of Notable Children's Books of 1940–1959), '' Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls: Poems'' (named a notable book of 1964), and '' The Birds and Beasts Were There: Animal Poems'' (honoured in 1965). Cole's whimsical poetry often appeared in '' Light Quarterly'' and was widely anthologized, as in '' The Oxford Book of American Light Verse'' and various collections by Willard R. Espy. Cole died in his

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

home, aged 80, in 2000. He was memorialized in a poem by

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Bibliography

* '' ... And Be Merry!: A Feast of Light Verse and a Soupcon of Prose about the Joy of Eating'' * '' I Went to the Animal Fair: A Book of Animal Poems'' * '' Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls: Poems'' * '' The Birds and Beasts Were There: Animal Poems'' * ''Poem Stew'' * ''Sex: "The Most Fun You Can Have Without Laughing" …and Other Quotations'' (with Louis Phillips) * ''Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland, & Wales'' (editor) * ''Cat-hater's Handbook, or, the Ailurophobe's Delight'' (with

Tomi Ungerer Jean-Thomas "Tomi" Ungerer (; 28 November 1931 – 9 February 2019) was an Alsatian artist and writer. He published over 140 books ranging from children's books to adult works and from the fantastic to the autobiographical. He was known for sha ...

) * ''Poems of Magic and Spells'' * ''Pith & Vinegar: An Anthology of Short Humorous Poetry'' (editor) * ''Oh, What Nonsense!'' (with Tomi Ungerer) * ''Have I Got Dogs!'' * ''A Zooful of Animals''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, William Rossa American book editors 1919 births 2000 deaths Writers from New York City Anthologists Children's poets 20th-century American poets O'Donovan family