The Ungrateful Garden

Born in Spokane, Washington, CAROLYN KIZER has, since the 1960s been one of America’s premier poets. She received her B.A. degree from Sarah Lawrence College and was a Fellow of the Chinese Government in Comparative Literature at Columbia University. In 1959 she founded the influential journal Poetry Northwest, and served as its editor until 1965. Appointed first Director of Literary Programs for the National Endowment for the Arts in 1966, Ms. Kizer’s varied and remarkable career has included service as a cultural ambassador for the State Department; as a teacher of creative writing at several universities including North Carolina, Columbia, Cincinnati, Iowa, Stanford, Arizona, and Princeton; and as a respected spokesperson for feminism and progressive political causes. Her most recent collection of poems, Harping On, was published in 1996 by Copper Canyon Press. The Ungrateful Garden, her first book and a notable addition to the Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary Series, was published by Indiana University Press in 1961. Recipient of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Carolyn Kizer lives in Sonoma, California.