Mark Strand (1934–2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator. Celebrated for his concentrated, elegiac verse, Strand was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990.
Born on Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Strand’s family moved around, and he grew up in Latin America. He received a B.A. from Antioch College in Ohio in 1957 and went to Yale to study painting but developed an obsession for poetry. He received a master’s degree from the writers’ workshop at the University of Iowa, and later taught at Iowa, Columbia, Chicago, and other schools.
Strand’s career spanned 50 years. He was the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964,) Reasons for Moving (1968,) Dark Harbor (1993,) Blizzard of One (1999; Pulitzer,) Man and Camel (2006,) Almost Invisible (2012,) and Collected Poems (2014.)
Strand also wrote prose, children’s books, and art criticism, helped edit several poetry anthologies, and translated the Italian poet Rafael Alberti and the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Mark Strand
Each moment is a place you’ve never been.
—Mark Strand
Topics: Perspective
The future is always beginning now.
—Mark Strand
Topics: Past and Present, Future
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