Ambassador Book Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 26 (2011) Winner
Christian Wiman
クリスチャン・ウィマン
Kurisuchan Wiman
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1966-08-31 （Snyder, Texas, United States）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Christianity
- Residence History
- Snyder, Texas (birthplace) → Evanston, Illinois (Northwestern University) → Palo Alto, California (Stanford University) → Lynchburg, Virginia (University of Lynchburg) → Prague, Czech Republic (Prague University of Economics and Business) → New Haven, Connecticut (Yale University)
Career
- Occupations
- poet, translator, editor, professor
- Active Years
- 1990-
- Affiliations
- Editor, Poetry magazine (2003–2013), Faculty, Yale University (Religion and Literature)
- Influenced By
- Seamus Heaney (comparison), Geoffrey Hill (comparison), Basil Bunting, Lorine Niedecker, Robert Frost, Simone Weil (thematic comparison), Jürgen Moltmann (thematic comparison)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington and Lee University | — | — | — | 1984–1988 | United States |
Washington and Lee University
Period:
1984–1988
Year of Graduation:
1988
Country:
United States
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Nicholas Roerich Prize | The Long Home | Poetry | — | winner |
| 2010 | Commonwealth Prize (English Speaking Union) | — | — | English Speaking Union | winner |
| 2012 | Guggenheim Fellowship | — | — | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | fellowship |
| 2014 | National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist) | Once in the West | Poetry | National Book Critics Circle | finalist |
| 2014 | Balcones Poetry Prize | Once in the West | Poetry | Austin Community College (sponsor) | winner |
| 2016 | Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry | — | — | Aiken Taylor Foundation | winner |
Nicholas Roerich Prize
1998
Work:
The Long Home
Category:
Poetry
Result:
winner
Commonwealth Prize (English Speaking Union)
2010
Organization:
English Speaking Union
Result:
winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
2012
Organization:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result:
fellowship
National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist)
2014
Work:
Once in the West
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
National Book Critics Circle
Result:
finalist
Balcones Poetry Prize
2014
Work:
Once in the West
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Austin Community College (sponsor)
Result:
winner
Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry
2016
Organization:
Aiken Taylor Foundation
Result:
winner
Awards & Nominations
Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry
1 appearances
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Edition 29 (2016) Winner
Works
Major Works
The Long Home
1998 Poetry collection 96 pagesWiman's first collection, containing poems that touch on home, memory, and religious questioning.
homememoryfaith
Hard Night
2005 Poetry collection 96 pagesA mid-career collection emphasizing sonority and form, where personal experience intersects universal themes.
sonorityformpersonal memory
Every Riven Thing
2011 Poetry collection 112 pagesA collection notable for metaphors derived from absence and multiplicity of readings; considered a significant work of the 2010s.
absenceabsence of Godlimits of language
Once in the West
2014 Poetry collection 128 pagesA collection that explores existence, faith, and memory through western landscapes and personal recollection; received award recognition.
the Westrecollectionfaith and being
Hammer Is the Prayer: Selected Poems
2016 Selected poems 224 pagesA selected poems volume compiling major works across Wiman's career, showcasing sonority and religious themes.
selected worksreligionsonority
Survival Is a Style
2020 Poetry collection 112 pagesA recent collection addressing life and death, and the expression of faith within the everyday.
life and deatheverydayfaith
Stolen Air: The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam (translation)
2012 Translation (poetry) 128 pagesAn English translation and selection of poems by Russian poet Osip Mandelstam, translated and edited by Wiman.
translationRussian poetry
Ambition and Survival: Becoming a Poet
2007 Essays / CriticismA collection of personal essays and criticism on poetry and the life of the poet, including reflections on faith and illness.
poeticsautobiographical essaysfaith and illness
My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
2013 Memoir / EssaysA meditation and memoir on illness and faith, exploring the practice and meaning of modern belief.
illnessfaithmeditation
Bibliography
- The Long Home (1998)
- Hard Night (2005)
- Ambition and Survival: Becoming a Poet (2007)
- Every Riven Thing (2011)
- Stolen Air: The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam (translation, 2012)
- My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer (2013)
- Once in the West (2014)
- Hammer Is the Prayer: Selected Poems (2016)
- Survival Is a Style (2020)
- Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair (2023)
- White Buffalo (2021)
Translations by Author
- Stolen Air: The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam (English translation)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- mix of formal and free versesonority suitable for reading aloud (careful rhythm and lineation)clear metaphors allowing multiple readings
- Recurring Motifs
- absence of Godvoid and absencefaith and doubtmemory and homelimits of language
Health
-
Macroglobulinemia (a rare blood cancer)診断は2000年代中盤（随筆やインタビューで言及）His experience with illness influenced his essays (notably My Bright Abyss) and deepened thematic reflection on faith and mortality in his work.
Legacy
One of the important voices in contemporary American poetry; known for his tenure as editor of Poetry magazine and for poems and essays that engage religious themes. Praised for musicality and attention to form suited to reading aloud.
Quotes
-
Many poets and critics now almost automatically distrust any work that exhibits formal coherence, stylistic finish, and closure.
Source: Ambition and Survival: Becoming a Poet (essay) (2007)
Trivia
- Served as editor of Poetry magazine from 2003 to 2013.
- Has publicly written about his diagnosis of macroglobulinemia and its influence on his work.
- Won the Balcones Poetry Prize in 2014 for Once in the West and was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist the same year.