Description
Literary Nonfiction. One of the most versatile writers of his generation, Stephen Kessler has distinguished himself over the last forty years as a poet, critic ("certainly the best poetry critic in sight," according to Lawrence Ferlinghetti), translator, novelist, and a wide-ranging journalist. As editor, he founded the international journal Alcatraz (1979-1985) and the Santa Cruz newsweekly The Sun (1986-1989), as well as The Redwood Coast Review (1999-2014). Following his earlier two books of essays, organized around themes of poetry and cultural criticism, in this third collection he gets more personal and political. Kessler's keen eye, sharp wit and readable style—whether reflecting on Viagra, multilingualism, Miss America, fatherhood, Gertrude Stein, anarchism, Robinson Jeffers, the pleasures of gossip, a trip to Cuba, Steve Jobs, Charles Bukowski, or getting mugged in New York—keep his writings vividly alive. The eclectic essays in NEED I SAY MORE? have both the immediacy of the present moment and the lasting value of literature.
Author Bio
Stephen Kessler is a poet, prose writer, translator and editor. Born in Los Angeles in 1947, he received his BA in languages and literature from Bard College and an MA in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He published his first essays and criticism in the early 1970s, and his reviews, columns, articles, features and interviews have appeared steadily since then in dozens of magazines and newspapers, chiefly in Northern California. He was the founding editor and publisher of the international journal Alcatraz (1979-1985) and of the Santa Cruz newsweekly The Sun (1986-1989). He has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Lambda Literary Award, and the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets for his translations of Luis Cernuda, and is the editor and principal translator of The Sonnets by Jorge Luis Borges. His recent books include NEED I SAY MORE? (El León Literary Arts, 2015), WHERE WAS I? (Greenhouse Review Press, 2015), the poetry collection SCRATCH PEGASUS (Swan Scythe Press, 2013), translations of Vicente Aleixandre, the essay collection THE TOLSTOY OF THE ZULUS (El León Literary Arts, 2011), and the novel THE MENTAL TRAVELER (Greenhouse Review Press, 2010).From 1999 through 2014 he was the editor of the award-winning literary newspaper The Redwood Coast Review. He lives in Santa Cruz.
Author City: SANTA CRUZ, CA USA