Phillis Levin

Background

About Phillis Levin

As a poet, I have many passions, one of which is understanding and connecting people in the world of poetry and the world at large. From an early age I was fascinated by the sciences, particularly biology. To this day I open the Science Times first. To me, there is an intimate connection between poetry and science. My next book of poetry, An Anthology of Rain, is due out from Barrow Street Press in April 2025.(Preorder link: TK) My previous five poetry collections include Mr. Memory & Other Poems, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and May Day. My first book, Temples and Fields, won the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award. I also edited The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English. Fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Trust of Amy Lowell have allowed me to explore the world around us, art through the ages, and nature in all its forms as well as the spectrum of human nature (and culture), a source for me of knowledge and wonder. For many years I was an editor at Boulevard magazine, starting with its first issue. I’m grateful for the generosity of MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where artist residencies have supported my work along the way. My work, widely anthologized, has appeared in AGNI, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The New Yorker, Paris Review, Plume, Poetry, Poetry London, Raritan, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. I was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and have been fortunate to live in many different parts of the world, including Italy, Slovenia, and Japan. Stateside, I have lived most of my adult life in Manhattan, and at some point have lived in Baltimore and the District of Columbia. Now I divide my time between New York City and West Cornwall, Connecticut.