American poet
Lyn Hejinian ( hə-JIN-ee-ən; born May 17, 1941) is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is known for her landmark work My Life (Sun & Moon, 1987, original version Burning Deck, 1980), as well as her book of essays, The Language of Inquiry (University of California Press, 2000).
Life
Hejinian was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, composer/musician Larry Ochs. She has published over a dozen books of poetry and numerous books of essays as well as two volumes of translations of the Russian poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. From 1976 to 1984 she was editor of Tuumba Press, and from 1981 to 1999 she co-edited (with Barrett Watten) Poetics Journal. She is the co-editor of Atelos, which publishes cross-genre collaborations between poets and other artists.[1]
Hejinian has worked on a number of collaborative projects with painters, musicians and filmmakers. She teaches poetics and contemporary literature at University of California, Berkeley.[2] Hejinian has lectured in Russia and around Europe. She has received grants and awards from the California Arts Council, the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Fund, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation.
She sponsors the NBC Thursday Night DeCal course at UC Berkeley.
