Samuel John Hazo

The author of books of poetry, fiction, essays and plays, Samuel Hazo is the founder and director of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University, where he taught for forty-three years. From 1950 until 1957 he served in the United States Marine Corps, completing his tour as a captain. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Arts degree from Duquesne University and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Some of his previous books are The Holy Surprise of Right Now and As They Sail (Poetry), Stills (Fiction), Feather, Mano A Mano and Watching Fire, Watching Rain (Drama), Spying For God (Essays) and The Pittsburgh That Stays Within You (Memoir). His translations include Denis de Rougemont’s The Growl of Deeper Waters, Nadia Tueni’s Lebanon: Twenty Poems For One Love and Adonis’ The Pages of Day And Night. His recent book of poems, Just Once, received the Maurice English Poetry Award in 2003. A new collection of poems entitled A Flight To Elsewhere was published in 2005, as was a new prose collection entitled The Power of Less: Essays on Poetry And Public Speech. He has been awarded nine honorary doctorates. He was most recently honored with the Griffin Award for Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater. A National Book Award Finalist, he was chosen the first State Poet of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by Governor Robert Casey in 1993, and he served until 2003.