Background
Michael Frank Duffett was born on February 23, 1943, in London, United Kingdom. In 1980 he arrived in the United States. He was the son of Jack Anthony and Doris Ann Lilian Duffett.
The Old Schools, Trinity Ln, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
Michael was educated at Cambridge University from which he holds the Bachelor of Arts (1964) and Master of Arts (1968) degrees.
Michael Frank Duffett was born on February 23, 1943, in London, United Kingdom. In 1980 he arrived in the United States. He was the son of Jack Anthony and Doris Ann Lilian Duffett.
Michael was educated at Cambridge University from which he holds the Bachelor of Arts (1964) and Master of Arts (1968) degrees.
He was awarded a Doctor of Letters from Gakushuin University, Japan, in 1977.
Immediately after graduation, Michael Duffett went under contract to The British Council to teach in Saudi Arabia where he became fluent in spoken and written Arabic. He lived there from 1960 to 1970.
In 1966 he lived for a year on the Greek island of Paros where Duffett improved the classical and Biblical Greek he had studied at school and in Cambridge. This eventually led to the publication by McGraw-Hill of "Back to Basics: the Sources of the New Testament" (2005) a text which will eventually be re-issued with a second part ("The Earliest Christian Documents") by BVT.
In 1970 he went to live and teach in Japan where he ended up as Associate Professor of English at Kawamura Gakuen University.
He came to the United States at the invitation of the East-West Center where he presented a paper entitled "Culture Learning through Literature Learning: with the Arabs and the Japanese," a paper he again presented in California State University, East Bay as a keynote address.
He came to California in 1983 as Senior Branch Manager of The National Reading Development Institute and went on to teach at Columbia College, Humphreys College, and was Adjunct Associate Professor in English and Humanities at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton where he also served as Academic Senator.
Michael also was the editor of the Rio Vista Herald and Isleton Journal, a cut and paste weekly newspaper.
He has been extensively published as a poet, his best-known book being "Forever Avenue" (John Daniel, Publisher, 1979). With Reuel Denny, Guy Amirthanayagam, and Galway Kinnell he edited "Poetry East and West" in Hawaii, and he was published regularly in New Zealand and California.
In 2019, Duffett's book, "The Presence of Love: Poems Selected and New" was published by HeadworX in New Zealand.
Michael was a member of the Episcopal Church.
Quotations: "I have always known I would be a writer since I was required for homework at the age of eleven to paraphrase a Shakespeare speech. From that moment, words possessed me. I also remember being enchanted by John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" when I was a teenager. My book "Forever Avenue" could not have been written without that dim and persistent memory."
Quotes from others about the person
"I first met Dr. Duffett In 2003 at Humphreys College. His stories were adventurous and filled with so much life. I'll never forget watching old films in his class and talking about Shakespeare. His presence was always felt in a room and we were all very privileged to be in his company." - Jesus Becerra
On July 31, 1982, Michael married Debra Faye Jones. The couple had seven children.