Lyn Hejinian (born May 17, 1941) 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 ...

, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the

Language poets The Language poets (or ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Bernadette Mayer, Leslie Scalapi ...

and is known for her landmark work ''My Life'' (Sun & Moon, 1987, original version Burning Deck, 1980), as well as her book of essays, ''The Language of Inquiry'' (University of California Press, 2000).

Life

Hejinian was born in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and lives in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, with her husband, composer/musician Larry Ochs. She has published over a dozen books of poetry and numerous books of essays as well as two volumes of translations of the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. From 1976 to 1984 she was editor of Tuumba Press, and from 1981 to 1999 she co-edited (with

Barrett Watten Barrett Watten (born October 3, 1948) is an American poet, editor, and educator often associated with the Language poets. He is a professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where he has taught modernism and cultural studie ...

) ''Poetics Journal''. She is the co-editor of ''Atelos'', which publishes cross-genre collaborations between poets and other artists. Hejinian has worked on a number of collaborative projects with painters, musicians and filmmakers. She teaches poetics and contemporary literature at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Hejinian has lectured in Russia and around Europe. She has received grants and awards from the California Arts Council, the

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 outreac ...

, the Poetry Fund, the

National Endowment of 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 ...

, and the Guggenheim Foundation. She sponsors the NBC Thursday Night DeCal course at UC Berkeley.

Bibliography

* ''a gRReat adventure''. Self-published, 1972. * ''A Thought is the Bride of What Thinking''. Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 1976. * ''A Mask of Motion''. Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1977. * ''Gesualdo''. Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 1978. * ''Writing is an Aid to Memory''. Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1978. * ''My Life''. Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1980. * ''The Guard''. Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 1984. * ''Redo''. Grenada, Miss.: Salt-Works Press, 1984. * ''My Life''. (revised and updated) LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1987. * ''Individuals''. (written with Kit Robinson) Tucson, AZ: Chax Press, 1988. * * ''The Hunt''. La Lasuna: Zasterle Press, 1991. * ''Oxota: A Short Russian Novel''. Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1991. * ''The Cell''. LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1992. * ''Jour de Chasse''. trans. Pierre Alferi. Cahiers de Royaumont, 1992. * ''The Cold of Poetry''. LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1994. * ''Two Stein Talks''. Santa Fe, NM: Weaselsleeves Press, 1996. * ''Wicker.'' (written with Jack Collom) Boulder, CO: Rodent Press. 1996. * ''The Little Book of A Thousand Eyes''. Boulder, CO: Smoke-Proof Press, 1996. * ''Writing is an Aid to Memory''. Reprint, Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1996. * ''Guide, Grammar, Watch, and The Thirty Nights''. Western Australia: Folio, 1996. * ''A Book from A Border Comedy''. Los Angeles: Seeing Eye Books, 1997. * ''The Traveler and the Hill, and the Hill''. (with Emilie Clark) New York: Granary Books, 1998. * ''Sight''. (written with

Leslie Scalapino Leslie Scalapino (July 25, 1944 – May 28, 2010) was an American poet, experimental prose writer, playwright, essayist, and editor, sometimes grouped in with the Language poets, though she felt closely tied to the Beat poets. Writes Hejinian: ...

) Washington DC:

Edge Books ''Aerial'' is an influential poetry magazine edited by Rod Smith and published by Aerial/Edge, based in Washington, D.C. Aerial/Edge also publishes Edge Books. The first issue of ''Aerial'' appeared in 1984. Edge Books began with its first publi ...

, 1999. * ''Happily''. Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2000. * ''Chartings''. (written with Ray DiPalma) Tucson:

Chax Press Charles Alexander (born 1954) is an American poet, publisher, and book artist. He is the director and editor-in-chief of Chax Press. Alexander also served as the Director of the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts from 1993 until 1995, and as book ...

, 2000. * ''Sunflower''. (written with Jack Collom) Great Barrington MA: The Figures, 2000. * ''The Language of Inquiry''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. * ''The Beginner''. New York: Spectacular Books, 2001. * ''A Border Comedy''. New York: Granary Books, 2001. * ''My Life''. Reprints Sun & Moon edition; Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2002. * ''Slowly''. Berkeley: Tuumba Press, 2002. * ''The Beginner''. Berkeley: Tuumba Press, 2002. * ''The Fatalist''. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2003. * ''My Life in the Nineties''. New York: Shark Books, 2003. * ''Saga/Circus''. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2008. * ''The Book of a Thousand Eyes''. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2012. * ''The Unfollowing''. Oakland, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2016. * ''Positions of the Sun''. New York, NY: Belladonna, 2018. * ''Tribunal''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2019. * ''Oxota: A Short Russian Novel''. Middletown, CN: Wesleyan University Press, 2019.

Translations

* ''Description''. poems by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1990. * ''Arkadii Dragomoshchenko selections in ''Third Wave: The New Russian Poetry'', ed. Kent Johnson and Stephen Ashby. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. * ''Xenia''. poems by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. LA: Sun & Moon Press. 1994.

Critical studies and reviews of Hejinian's work

;''Leningrad'' *

References

External links