Stephen Dunn Explained

Stephen Dunn
Birth Date:24 June 1939
Birth Place:Forest Hills, Queens, New York, U.S.
Death Place:Frostburg, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation:Professor and poet
Education:Hofstra University (BA)
Syracuse University (MFA)
Genre:Poetry
Awards:Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Stephen Elliot Dunn (June 24, 1939June 24, 2021) was an American poet and educator who authored twenty-one collections of poetry. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 2000 collection, Different Hours, and received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[1] He also won three National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships, Guggenheim Fellowship,[2] and Rockefeller Foundations Fellowship.[3]

Early life

Dunn was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York on June 24, 1939.[4] His parents were Ellen (Fleishman) and Charles Dunn.[5] He attended Forest Hills High School, where he played basketball. After graduating in 1957, he studied history at Hofstra University. He played guard for its basketball team and was part of the squad that had a 23–1 record during the 1959–60 season.[6] He was nicknamed "Radar" for his ability to make jump shots.[7]

Dunn graduated from Hofstra University in 1962 and went on to play one season for the Williamsport Billies of the Eastern Basketball Association.[8] He then worked in advertising until he was 26, when he traveled to Spain to pen a novel, which he ended up discarding. He subsequently undertook postgraduate studies at Syracuse University, obtaining a master's degree in creative writing in 1970.[9]

Career

Dunn began teaching at Stockton University in 1974 and published his first full-length collection entitled Looking for Holes in the Ceiling that same year.[6] He continued working at Stockton for approximately three decades,[6] and also taught at Wichita State University, University of Washington, Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Princeton University.[10]

A collection of essays about Dunn's poetry was published in 2013.[11] He finished his last book, The Not Yet Fallen World, shortly before his death.[7] Published in May 2022, nearly a year after his passing,[12] it was viewed by Dunn as the best work he had written.[7]

Personal life

Dunn married his first wife, Lois Kelly, in 1964. Together, they had two children: Susanne and Andrea. They divorced in 2001. He married Barbara Hurd the following year.[6]

Dunn had earlier lived in Port Republic, New Jersey. He later resided at homes in Ocean City, New Jersey, as well as Hurd's hometown of Frostburg, Maryland.[13] He died on the night of his 82nd birthday at his home in Frostburg.[12] He suffered from Parkinson's disease prior to his death.[6] [7]

Selected bibliography

Poetry

Collections

Selected list of poems

width=25%TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedRef
Ambush at five o'clock2014
Salvation2005
Whereas the animal I cannot help but be2015
Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Point2003
The Routine Things Around the House2006
The Kiss2007
Here and Now2011
Mrs. Cavendish and the Dancer2014
Glimpses2018

Non fiction

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Stephen Dunn: Influences. June 27, 2021.
  2. Web site: Stephen Dunn - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation . September 27, 2012 . dead . https://archive.today/20130414223623/http://pt.gf.org/fellows/3913-stephen-dunn . April 14, 2013 .
  3. Web site: Reading and Lecture by Stephen Dunn. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120428034529/http://www.wiredforbooks.org/stephendunn/. April 28, 2012.
  4. Book: A Study Guide for Stephen Dunn's "The Reverse Side". 9781410356642. January 21, 2020. Gale. Cengage Learning. 2016. Gale, Cengage Learning .
  5. News: Genzlinger. Neil. 2021-06-25. Stephen Dunn, Poet Who Celebrated the Ordinary, Dies at 82. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-06-28. 0362-4331.
  6. News: Stephen Dunn, Poet Who Celebrated the Ordinary, Dies at 82. Neil. Genzlinger. June 25, 2021. June 25, 2021. The New York Times.
  7. News: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Finzel resident Stephen Dunn dies at 82. Bryon. MacWilliams. June 25, 2021. June 25, 2021. Cumberland Times-News. https://web.archive.org/web/20210625170301/https://www.times-news.com/news/pulitzer-prize-winning-poet-finzel-resident-stephen-dunn-dies-at-82/article_6d5ee9d6-d4f2-11eb-8cee-abd52836a07a.html. June 25, 2021.
  8. News: Greenberg . Ginny . Remembering Stephen Dunn . 4 August 2021 . . 25 June 2021.
  9. News: Gadoua . Renée K. . Stephen Dunn Is Next Carver Speaker . 4 August 2021 . SU News . November 6, 2013.
  10. Web site: Stephen Dunn. faculty.asd.wednet.edu.
  11. Book: McCullough . Laura . Laura McCullough . The Room and the World: Essays on the Poet Stephen Dunn . Syracuse University Press . December 15, 2013 . 978-0815633358.
  12. News: Stockton University, friends and family mourn death of Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer winner and retired professor. Bill. Barlow. June 25, 2021. June 25, 2021. The Press of Atlantic City. https://web.archive.org/web/20210625181037/https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/stockton-university-friends-and-family-mourn-death-of-stephen-dunn-pulitzer-winner-and-retired-professor/article_935e2750-d5c9-11eb-a60c-4f234202d8eb.html. June 25, 2021.
  13. Strauss, Robert. "Ode to Joi(sey)", The New York Times, April 27, 2003. Accessed October 9, 2007. "Mr. Dunn, who used to live in Port Republic, a remote town in the interior of South Jersey, now divides his time between Ocean City and his wife's hometown, Frostburg, Md."

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