Background
Heyen, William H. was born on November 1, 1940 in Brooklyn. Son of Henry Jurgen Heyen and Wilhelmina Auguste Else Wörmke.
(Fiction. "William Heyen's brief fictions are themselves h...)
Fiction. "William Heyen's brief fictions are themselves hummingbirds: they hover, then disappear into Emily Dickinson's 'route of evanescence.' But when we look up from their pages, we still feel their splatter and/or sense their iridescence in our minds"--Edwina Seaver.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097180592X/?tag=2022091-20
(William Heyen :: Lord Dragonfly originally published in 1...)
William Heyen :: Lord Dragonfly originally published in 1981 by Vanguard Press. reissued 2010 by H_NGM_N BKS. The full text of the original volume including new notes by the author, a preface by series editor Nate Pritts & a critical appreciation by Matthew Henriksen.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1453608001/?tag=2022091-20
(In the title poem of Pterodactyl Rose, the speaker tells ...)
In the title poem of Pterodactyl Rose, the speaker tells us that when he peers into his rearview mirror, he imagines the air behind him filling with the bodies of those ancient creatures his engine is burning. He says he is wild with prayer and longing, as we all are, entering a century that may determine whether mankind will have a long tenure on this planet or will be just another vanished species. In poem after poem here, Heyen probes the roots of our unprecedented ecological crisis and carries us with him.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1877770256/?tag=2022091-20
(In this past year of “our first war in the desert” and th...)
In this past year of “our first war in the desert” and the “amnesiac parades” which numbed our national conscience, William Heyen kept writing how the war hurt. Far from what used to be called the front lines, himself torn with Marianne Moore’s old knowledge that “there never was a war that was / not inward,” William Heyen stood watch for us all. These dark and brilliant Ribbons are, taken whole, the most self-demanding war poem of our century’s death-throes. Philip Booth
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1877770450/?tag=2022091-20
(Presenting fifty startling poems -- alternating between i...)
Presenting fifty startling poems -- alternating between its authors, a Jew and a Christian -- this volume possesses a haunting poignancy unlike any other book of Holocaust poetry.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1877770752/?tag=2022091-20
(The Host, Heyen's first volume of selected poems, include...)
The Host, Heyen's first volume of selected poems, includes The Chestnut Rain in its entirety and work from ten other collections. The reader of this book will recognize a lyric poet of great reach and power, one of the country's finest.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1877770531/?tag=2022091-20
Heyen, William H. was born on November 1, 1940 in Brooklyn. Son of Henry Jurgen Heyen and Wilhelmina Auguste Else Wörmke.
Bachelor of Science in Education, State University of New York, Brockport, 1961. Master of Arts in English, Ohio University, 1963. Doctor of Philosophy in English, Ohio University, 1967.
He received a Bachelor from the State University of New York at Brockport and earned a doctorate in English from Ohio University in 1967. He taught American literature and creative writing at State University of New York–Brockport for over 30 years before retiring in 2000. He also briefly served as Director of the Brockport Writers Forum, a series of readings by and video interviews with numerous American and international authors.
His work has been published in numerous literary journals and periodicals, including The New Yorker, The Ontario Review, Harper"s, TriQuarterly, The Georgia Review, Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Southern Review and online publications such as Exit-Online.
His work has also been published in 200 anthologies, in dozens of limited-edition chapbooks and broadsides, and on audio. He spent the 1971–1972 academic year as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in American literature at the University of Hanover in what was then West Germany.
During this time, he visited a number of sites involved in the Holocaust. These experiences, combined with his own family history (including an uncle who served in the German army), resulted in three volumes of poetry on the subject published over the next 32 years.
He has been awarded National Education Association, Guggenheim, American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters, and other prizes.
Prior to the publication of his first collection, a privately printed ephemeral edition of the poem "The Mower," including several drafts, was printed in softcover. The final version of "The Mower" appeared in his first collection, Depth of Field (1970). He also authored a novel, Vic Holyfield and the Class of ’57 (1986).
Selections of his poems have been translated into Italian (by poet Frank Judge), into Swedish (by Stewe Claeson) and into German.
He edited two major collections of poetry, The Generation of 2000: Contemporary American Poets, and American Poets in 1976. He is also the editor of September 11, 2001: American Poets Respond (2002).
Many of his manuscripts, correspondence, and his collection of first editions of modern American authors are archived in the Rare Books Collection at University of Rochester, at Boston University, at the Beinecke Library at Yale University, and at the University of New Hampshire. In 2004, he was one of the five finalists for the National Book Award for poetry for his volume Shoah Train.
Other volumes of the past few years are September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond (2002) a collection of short stories, The Hummingbird Corporation (2003, and a collection of 30 years of essays called Home: Autobiographies, et cetera
His most recent collections are Confessions of Doc Williams and Other Poems (2006) and Titanic & Iceberg: Early Essays and Reviews (2006).
(In the title poem of Pterodactyl Rose, the speaker tells ...)
(Presenting fifty startling poems -- alternating between i...)
(In this past year of “our first war in the desert” and th...)
(A powerful series of meditations on the Nazi atrocities a...)
(The Host, Heyen's first volume of selected poems, include...)
(William Heyen :: Lord Dragonfly originally published in 1...)
(Great poetry dealing with life in Germany during the Holo...)
(Book by Heyen, William)
(Book by Heyen, William)
(Fiction. "William Heyen's brief fictions are themselves h...)
(1st)
Married Hannelore Irene Greiner, July 7, 1962. Children: William, Kristen.