Los Angeles Times Book Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 34 (2013) Winner
Ron Padgett
ロン・パジェット
Ron Padgett
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1942-06-17 （Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Tulsa (childhood) → East Village, Manhattan, New York City (from 1967) → Vermont (summer retreat)
Career
- Occupations
- poet, writer, translator, essayist, educator
- Active Years
- 1960-
- Affiliations
- Teachers & Writers Collaborative (former publications director), The Poetry Project (workshop leader), Full Court Press (co-founder, publisher)
- Memberships
- New York School (poetry group)
- Influenced By
- Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Beat writers (e.g. Allen Ginsberg)
- Influenced
- Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (used Padgett's poems in the film Paterson)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia University | College (undergraduate) | Liberal Arts | BA | 1960–1964 | United States |
| Wagner College | Creative writing (postgraduate study) | Creative writing | — | 1964–1965 | United States |
| Fulbright Fellowship (Paris) | — | 20th-century French poetry studies | — | 1965–1966 | France |
Columbia University
College (undergraduate)
/ Liberal Arts
Degree:
BA
Period:
1960–1964
Year of Graduation:
1964
Country:
United States
Studied at Columbia; came under influence of the New York School poets
Wagner College
Creative writing (postgraduate study)
/ Creative writing
Period:
1964–1965
Country:
United States
Studied with Kay Boyle, Howard Nemerov, and Kenneth Koch
Fulbright Fellowship (Paris)
20th-century French poetry studies
Period:
1965–1966
Country:
France
Studied in Paris on a Fulbright Fellowship
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Shelley Memorial Award | — | — | Poetry Society of America | winner |
| 2018 | Robert Frost Medal | — | — | Poetry Society of America | winner |
| 1986 | Guggenheim Fellowship | — | — | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | recipient |
| 2013 | Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Poetry) | Collected Poems | Poetry | Los Angeles Times | winner |
| 2015 | Robert Creeley Award | — | — | Robert Creeley Foundation | recipient |
| 2012 | Pulitzer Prize (finalist) | How Long | 詩 / Poetry | Pulitzer Prize Committee | finalist |
Shelley Memorial Award
2009
Organization:
Poetry Society of America
Result:
winner
Robert Frost Medal
2018
Organization:
Poetry Society of America
Result:
winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
1986
Organization:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result:
recipient
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Poetry)
2013
Work:
Collected Poems
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Los Angeles Times
Result:
winner
Robert Creeley Award
2015
Organization:
Robert Creeley Foundation
Result:
recipient
Pulitzer Prize (finalist)
2012
Work:
How Long
Category:
詩 / Poetry
Organization:
Pulitzer Prize Committee
Result:
finalist
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Great Balls of Fire
1969 PoetryAn early major collection by Padgett, notable for its humor and attention to everyday life.
everyday lifehumorfriendship
Translations
- Translated into French and other languages
How Long
2011 PoetryA later collection showing mature craft; was a 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
memorytimerelationships
Collected Poems
2013 Collected poetryA comprehensive collection of Padgett's work; won the 2013 L.A. Times Book Prize (Poetry).
lifetime overviewpoetic experimentation
You Never Know
2001 PoetryOne of his notable early-2000s collections, continuing his conversational and light style.
everyday lifepersonal reminiscence
Bibliography
- Summer Balloons (1960)
- In Advance of the Broken Arm (1964)
- Some Things (1964) (with Ted Berrigan and Joe Brainard)
- Great Balls of Fire (1969)
- Ted: A Personal Memoir of Ted Berrigan (1993)
- Blood Work: Selected Prose (1993)
- You Never Know (2001)
- How to Be Perfect (2007)
- How Long (2011)
- Collected Poems (2013)
- Alone and Not Alone (2015)
- Big Cabin (2019)
- Dot (2022)
- Pink Dust (2025)
Adaptations
- Several poems featured in the film Paterson (2016)
Translations by Author
- The Poet Assassinated - Guillaume Apollinaire (translation, 1968)
- Blaise Cendrars (complete poems and other translations)
- Valery Larbaud (poems)
- Pierre Reverdy (Prose Poems)
Translations of Works
- Works translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Faroese, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Italian, etc.
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- conversational clarityhumor and witintersections with visual art
- Recurring Motifs
- everyday lifefriendship and collaborationmemory and childhood
Legacy
A poet associated with but distinct from the New York School; influential as a teacher, translator, and editor, contributing to U.S.–French poetic exchange and reaching wider audiences through film and other media.
Museums
- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (holds Ron Padgett papers) Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Academic Societies
- Poetry Society of America (award recipient)
- Academy of American Poets (grants/recognition)
Archives
- Ron Padgett Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University
In Popular Culture
- Poems featured in Jim Jarmusch's film Paterson (2016), forming a central element of the movie
Quotes
-
"It's alright, students, not to write."
Source: Quoted in interviews/articles about his poetry and teaching (2017)
Trivia
- Began writing poetry at age 13.
- His father was a bootlegger in Tulsa; that background influenced aspects of his work.
- Has lived in the same East Village apartment since 1967.
- Several of his poems appear in Jim Jarmusch's film Paterson.