American poet
Christopher Merrill (born February 24, 1957) is an American poet, essayist, journalist and translator. Currently, he serves as director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He led the initiative that resulted in the selection of Iowa City as a UNESCO City of Literature, a part of the Creative Cities Network. In 2011, he was appointed to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.
Life and career.
Christopher Merrill was born in western Massachusetts and raised in New Jersey. He did his undergraduate work at Middlebury College and his graduate degree at the University of Washington. He has published six collections of poetry, including "Watch Fire", for which he received the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. He has also published translations, several edited volumes, and six books of nonfiction. His work has been translated into nearly 40 languages, and his journalism appears in many publications. For 10 years he was the book critic for the daily radio news program The World. Merrill's honors include a Chevalier from the French government in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He held the William H. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross before becoming the director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 2000.
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