Essayists

Anderson, Lauri

October 27, 1942 -

Place of Birth:  Foxcroft, ME

Place of Principle Residence:  Hancock, MI

Biography:
    Lauri Arvid Anderson was born to Ruby Littlefield of “Old New England” and Arvid Anderson (a Finnish immigrant) in 1942 in Maine.  He attended the University of Maine and achieved his BA in English in 1965 and his MA in International Education in 1969 from Michigan State University.  From 1965 to 1967 Anderson volunteered for the Peace Corps in Nigeria and then served as an English teacher at North County High School in Vermont between 1967 and 1969.  In 1971 Anderson completed a MA in English at the University of Pacific and taught at Mizpah Mission School as the chair of English and Dean until 1972.  He then moved to Izmir, Turkey to work at the American Collegiate Institute as the chair of English until 1976.  From there Anderson went to Hancock, Main where he still serves as the chair of English and the Division Head of Humanities.  In addition her served as and English instructor for the Phillips-Andover Academy, a school for gifted minority students, from 1995 to 1997.  Anderson has authored five prose works and one book of poetry, many of which exemplify a sarcastic tone, and Anderson’s Finnish heritage.  He is the brother of poet Wendy Anderson and author Stuart Anderson and has three children, Eric, Charlotte, and Lucy.

Selected Works:

       
• Impressions of Arvo Laurila (2005)
       
• Misery Bay (2001)
       
• Children of the Kalevala (1997)
       
• Heikki Heikkinen and Other Stories of Upper Peninsula Finns (1995)
       
• Hunting Hemingway’s Trout (1990)
       
• Small Winter Wars (1983)
       
• Snow White and Others (1971)

 

Awards:

       
• 1996-1997 FinnFest guest writer
       
• 1995 MLA guest writer
       
• 1994 Honorable Mention, Fiction Contest, Finnish American Reporter
       
• 1988 Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future
       
• 1985 Selected for NEH Institute in Commonwealth Literature, Indiana U.
       
• 1983 Selected for NEH Seminar in Twelfth-Century Civilization, Mt. Holyoke
       
• 1981 Selected for NEH Seminar in American Humor, U. of New Mexico

Critical Reception:
    Anderson has written and received many grants to continue his academic and creative work. 

For Back to Misery Bay:

“Lauri Anderson deftly and often humorously captures the love-hate relationship that his Finnish-American characters have with Misery Bay, their hearts’ home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Many of Lauri Anderson’s Finns seem determined to raise their various dysfunctionalities to an art form, but through their very fallibility they tug at our hearts. As one wise old Finn advises his war-shattered nephew, People are really screwed up but love them anyway. They’re all we have.     
          —Judy Hakola, Lecturer in English, University of Maine

For Hemingway’s Trout:Stories:

This short collection of stories and sketches about Ernest Hemingway and an army of fictional characters who study his work is mildly interesting but lacks the order, tension and overarching theme necessary to form an exciting whole.
          - Publishers Weekly

Brief, amateurish essays about Ernest Hemingway here alternate with seven short stories, each constructed around some character or image from Hemingway’s work….some of the individual stories are entertaining, but the collection feels contrived, the prose dated by references to the Sixties. Book budget dollars would be better spent on new editions of Hemingway.
          - Library Journal

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
      Anderson teaches at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan.  Several of his books, including Children of Kalevala, take place in Upper Michigan. 

 

Eshleman, Clayton

June 1, 1935 -

Place of Birth:  Indianapolis, IN

Place of Principle Residence:  Ypsilanti, MI

Biography:
    Clayton Eshleman was born to Gladys and Clayton Eshleman in 1935 in Indianapolis, IN.  He attended Indiana University and received his BA in philosophy in 1958 and M.A.T. in Creative Writing in 1961.  He was an instructor in English for a year before moving to Kobe, Japan as an English language and writing instructor for Matsushita Electric Corporation.  In 1966 he moved to New York City as an instructor at the American Language Institute and as a publisher and editor for Caterpillar books and Caterpillar magazine.  Eshleman became founder and editor of Sulfur magazine in 1981.  Starting in the 1970s Eshleman traveled around the country as a visiting professor and poet in residence.  In 1986 he moved to Eastern Michigan University as a Professor of English.  Eshleman is a known translator, winning the National Book Award in 1979 for his co-translaton of Cesar Vallejo’s Complete Posthumous Poem.  In addition to being the main American tranlator of Cesar Vallejo, Eshleman has also translated books by Antonin Arlaudi and Bernard Bador, among others.  Eshleman has made frequent trips with his wife, Caryl, to France to study Ice Age Cave Art and finished his research in the 1990s with publishing his findings in his book, Juniper Fuse.  He has one son, Matthew, by his first wife Barbara Novak.

Selected Works:
Poetry:

       
• Cantaloups and Splendour (1968)
       
• Under World Arrest (1994)
       
• Archaic Design (2007)

Prose:

       
• Companion Spider (2002)

Translation:

       
• The Collected Poetry by Aimé Césaire (1984)
       
• The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo (2007)

Awards:

       
• 1968 Poetry Magazine Award for “Five Poems”
       
• 1977 Carnegie Author’s Fund Award
       
• 1978 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry for research on Upper Paleolitic Cave Art
       
• 1989 Distinguished Faculty Research/Creativity Award, Eastern Michigan University
       
• 1992 Michigan Artists Award, Arts Foundation of Michigan
       
• 2002 Landon Translation Prize, Academy of American Poets, for “Trilce”
       
• 2002 Sabio Award for Excellent in Literary Translation, San Diego State University

Critical Reception:

“This [The Complete Poetry, César Vallejo] is a crucially important translation of one of the poetic geniuses of the twentieth century.”
    - William Rowe, author of Poets of Contemporary Latin America: History and the Inner Life.

“Sulfur must be the most important literary magazine which has explored and extended the boundaries of poetry. Clayton Eshleman has had a nose for smelling out what was going to happen next in the ceaseless evolution of the art.”
    - James Laughlin, New Directions Books.

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
    Eshleman is a Professor of English at Eastern Michigan University.

 

 

 

 

Kirk, Russell

October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994

Place of Birth: Plymouth, MI
Place of Principle Residence: Mecosta, MI
Biography:
Russell A. Kirk was born to Marjorie and Russell Kirk in Plymouth, Mi in 1918.  He got his B.A. at Michigan State University in 1940, his M.A. at Duke University in 1941, and his D. Litt at St. Andrew’s University (in Scotland) in 1952.  Kirk is the only American to earn the highest arts degree from St. Andrews.  During the course of his life Kirk became the poster child for seizing rich and versatile experiences and became known as one of America’s leading thinkers.  He published over thirty-two books, many short stories, and hundreds of periodical essays appearing in U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, and Poland periodicals. His book, The Conservative Mind, went through seven editions.  In total his books have sold over a million copies and have been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Korean, and other languages.  Kirk wrote and spoke on topics including modern culture, political thought and practice, educational theory, literary criticism, ethical questions, and social themes.  He lectures on hundreds of American campuses, and some of his public lecture appeared on radio and were broadcast nationally on C-SPAN.  In addition to lecturing, Kirk debated with well-known speakers like Norman Thomas, Hubert Humphrey, and Malcolm X.  He also enjoyed a circle of literary and scholarly friends including T.S. Eliot and Ray Bradbury.  Kirk’s life work won him many awards and much recognition, including being a Fulbright Lecturer in Scotland, receiving a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Reagan, the Christopher Award for his book Eliot and His Age, and twelve honorary doctorates from American universities and colleges.  Kirk edited the educational quarterly journal The University Bookman, and was the founder and first editor of the quarterly Modern Age.  For twenty-five years he wrote a page on education for National Review, and for thirteen years published (through the LA Times Syndicate) a nationally syndicated newspaper column.  Kirk lived with his wife of almost thirty years, Annette Yvonne Cecile Courtemanche, and his four daughters Monica, Cecilia, Felicia, and Andrea at his ancestral place, Piety Hill, in Mecosta, MI.  He converted a toy factory into his library and office, and was a famous narrator of ghostly tales, many of which he picked up during his travels (often on foot) in Scotland, Ireland, Mediterranean and Alpine lands, and Africa.  The Kirk’s house was often packed with Asiatic, African, and European refugees and exiles, along with university students, travelers from antique lands.  Kirk and Annette held many seminars at their residence in connection with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the Wilbur Foundation.  Every year they received several literary interns.  Kirk died in 1994 and his work is continued by the Russell Kirk Center.   
Selected Works:

       
• Randolph of Roanoke : A Study in Conservative Thought (1951)
       
• The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Santayana (1953)
       
• Old House of Fear (1961)
       
• Lost Lake: Confessions of a Bohemian Tory (1963)
       
• Eliot and His Age: T.S. Eliot’s Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century (1971)
       
• Lord of the Hollow Dark (1979)
       
• Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered (1985)

Awards:

       
• 1950-1951 American Council of Learned Societies senior fellow
       
• 1956 Guggenheim fellow
       
• 1966 Ann Radcliffe Award for Gothic fiction
       
• 1972 Christopher Award
       
• 1977 World Fantasy Award for short fiction
       
• 1984 Weaver Award of Ingersoll Prizes for scholarly humane letters
       
• 1985 Freedom Leadership Award, Hillsdale College
       
• 1985 Constitutional fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities
       
• 1988 Literary Michigan by the Michigan Council for the Humanities
       
• 1989 Presidential Citizens Medal, conferred by President Reagan
       
• n/a Honorary degrees from Boston College, Central Michigan University, Olivet College
       
• n/a For several years a Distinguished Scholar of the Heritage Foundation

Critical Reception:

“As the prophet of American conservatism, Russell Kirk has taught, nurtured, and inspired a generation. From . . . Piety Hill, he reached deep into the roots of American values, writing and editing central works of political philosophy. His intellectual contribution has been a profound act of patriotism. I look forward to the future with anticipation that his work will continue to exert a profound influence in the defense of our values and our cherished civilization.” —Ronald Reagan

“[The Conservative Mind] gave American conservatives and identity and a genealogy and catalyzed the postwar movement.” - The New York Times

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
For the majority of his life, Kirk’s home was in Mecosta, MI where a number of people from all over the world, including refugees and scholars, lived with him and his family.  Kirk worked in his library and office in a nearby converted toy factory.  Kirk and his wife held many seminars at their home, and were joined each year by several literary interns.

Klatt, L.S.

1962—

Place of Birth: Cincinnati, OH

Place of Principal Residence: Grand Rapids, MI

Biography
Lewis Skillman Klatt was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised Lutheran. Though fascinated with language, Klatt also takes an interested in athletics and paleontology. To a large extent, he attributes the development of his artistic impulse to the fact that he is an identical twin. Growing up as twin meant he had to carve out his own identity, poetry assisted him in this.  Klatt earned his Ph.D. in English at the University of Georgia, his M.A.L.A. at St. John’s College, his M.Div. at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his B.A. in English at Wittenberg University.  Robert Frost and the Romantic poets largely inspired 
Klatt’s early writing. He has published poems and book reviews in numerous journals.  Lewis Klatt is happily married and lives in Grand Rapids, MI as a professor or English at Calvin College.

Selected Works
Poetry:

• “Chesapeake” in The Cape Rock, Spring, 1998
• “Provincetown” in New Orleans Review, Volume 28, Number 2, 2002
• “Harlem,” in Xavier review, Volume 25, Number 1, Spring, 2005

Book Reviews:

• “Tessa Rumsey’s The Return Message”, in Verse, January 22, 2007 (http://versemag.blogspot.com/)
• “Beth Roberts’ Brief Moral History in Blue in Jacket,” November, 2002, and in Verse, Volume 19, Number 3/ volume 20, Number 1, 2003
• “Czeslaw Milosz’s Milosz’s ABC’s” in The Georgia Review, Fall, 2001

Awards

• 2004 Juniper Prize Finalist, “The Supersonics”
• 2006 National Poetry Series Finalist, “Interloper”

Critical Reception
Though one blogger criticized Klatt’s poetry as “oblique”, the little critical feedback Klatt has received has been positive. Phoebe magazine solicited him and, according to Klatt, their emails were “very encouraging”.

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
Many places figure into the poetry of L.S Klatt. A glance at the aforementioned titles—Provincetown, Chesapeake, Harlem—attest to this; however, place does not play a central role in his poetry. Place is a vehicle to explore larger, more abstract concepts. Klatt claims to have no specific regional identity, but celebrates all things American. America is then important to him in the large, Whitmanian sense of the term.

Lynch, Thomas

Oct. 16, 1948—

Place of Birth: Detroit, MI

Place of Principal Residence: Milford, MI

Biography
Thomas Lynch was born in Detroit, MI on October 16, 1948.  He briefly attended Oakland University before leaving to earn his degree in mortuary science.  Upon graduation Lynch went to work at his father’s funeral home, Lynch & Son’s, where he now serves as funeral director.  Dealing with the sobering reminder of mortality every day, Lynch turned to creative writing as an emotional outlet.  His first book, Skating with Heather Grace, was published in 1987, and has been followed by six other books, including the highly acclaimed The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade.  Lynch has won several awards for his work, including an American Book Award and the Heartland Prize.  In addition to his full-time job as funeral director, Lynch has traveled across Europe and the U.S. giving lectures and readings and also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the University of Michigan’s graduate creative writing program.  Besides his books, Lynch has had his work published in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Paris Review, Esquire, and other literary magazines and newspapers.  He has appeared on national television programs like C-SPAN and The Today Show, and has had commentaries broadcasted by several radio stations, including BBC Radio and NPR.  Lynch currently lives in Milford, MI with his wife, Mary, and has four children: Heather, Tom, Michael, and Sean.  He and his wife split their time between Milford and Lynch’s family cottage in Ireland. 

Selected Works

• Booking Passage: We and Irish Americans
• The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade
• Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality
• Still Life in Milford: Poems
• Grimalkin
• Skating with Heather Grace

Awards

• Great Lakes Book Award

Critical Reception
      For Bodies in Motion and At Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality:

        “What makes him such a fine essayist is that it’s just the business of everyday life and death to him.”
            - Los Angeles Times

        “Lynch’s vivid prose has the electricity of writing that tells us what is going on in the secret places of the community—and the secret places of
          the heart”
              - USA Today

        “He is able to take us inside the palpable business of blood, tears, and the final verse of life in a manner that is almost shocking in the relief it
          delivers…A fine, sensible, and wise book.”
              - Boston Sunday Globe
     
      For Still Life in Milford: Poems:

        “These poems are undeniably—and understandably—dark-toned, but they make you think”
              - Library Journal

        “To read Lynch’s latest collection of verse is to acknowledge the centrality of impressions swiftly created, sharply observed and vividly
          reported….The strength of this collection lies in the poet’s ability to open tiny windows into other people’s lives and to shut them again just as
          quickly, leaving us disturbed by possibility; surrounded by an unknown, and an unknowing, myriad existence.”
              - Richmond Review

        “The considerable pleasures of this ample volume outweigh the sloppy bursts of sentiment and blarney: Lynch’s crystal-clear voice often serves
          him well.”
              - Kirkus Reviews

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work

Lynch’s writing is directed by his life as an undertaker in a small town.  His most critically acclaimed book, The Undertaker, reflects on Lynch’s experience with death.  In addition, his Irish heritage and fascination with Irish linguistics and culture has also influenced his writing, as seen in his most recent book Booking Passage: We Irish and Americans.

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