Wakoski, Diane
August 3, 1937 –
Place of Birth: Whittier, CA
Place of Principle Residence: East Lansing, MI
Biography:
Diane Wakoski was born to Marie and John Wakoski in Whittier, California. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her B.A. in 1960. During this time Wakoski became associated with the “deep image” movement that included other authors like Jerome Rothenberg and Robert Kelly. Her later writing has followed more along the lines of William Carlos Williams whom she has claimed to draw inspiration from. Wakoski has published forty books of poetry, but is best known for her series of poems called The Leather Jacket Diaries. During the 1980s Wakoski received attention from her controversial comments linking New Formalism with Reagonism. She currently teaches creative writing at Michigan State University as a Distinguished Professor.
Selected Works:
- Argonaut Rose (1998)
- The Emerald City of Las Vegas (1995)
- Medea the Sorceress (1991)
- Variations on a Theme (1976)
Awards:
- Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award
- 1989 Michigan Arts Foundation Distinguished Artist Award
- 1989 Michigan State University Distinguished Faculty Award
- 1988 Michigan Arts Council Grant
- 1984 Writer’s Fulbright Award, Yugoslavia
- 1974 CAPS Grant, New York State
- 1973 National Endowment for the Arts Grant
- 1972 Guggenheim Foundation Grant
- 1970 Cassandra Foundation Grant
- 1996 Best Poems of 1996 for The Butcher’s Apron by Scribner Press
- 2003 Michigan Author Award
Critical Reception:
Wakoski has been marked as a talented writer from both her critics and supporters alike. Paul Zweig in the New York Times Book Review called her an “important and moving poet.” Wakoski’s dark themes have concerned some critics, one being called a recurring “anti-male rage” theme by Peter Schjeldahl in the New York Times Book Review. Schjeldahl wrote Wakoski’s poems “are professionally supple and clear…but their pervasive unpleasantness makes her popularity rather surprising. One can only conclude that a number of people are angry enough at life to enjoy the sentimental and desolating resentment with which she writes about it.” However critic James F. Mersmann in Margins argued that her poetry “gives us a moving vision of the terrible last stages of a disintegrating personality and a disintegrating society, and it painfully embodies the schizophrenia, alienation, and lovelessness of our time.” Douglas Blazek of Poetry agreed by noting Wakoski’s poems have the “substance necessary to qualify them notches above the works of creative ‘geniuses,’ ‘stylists,’ and ‘cultural avatars’ who have little to say.”
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Wakoski is a noted Michigan author and professor, winning a number of awards and grants for her teaching and writing.