Christopher Merrill is an American poet, essayist, journalist and translator. Currently, he serves as director of the International Writing Program

International Writing Program

The International Writing Program is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted over 1,100 emerging and established poets, novelists, dramatists, essayists, and journalists from more than 120 countries...

 at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

. He led the initiative that resulted in the selection of Iowa City as a UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 City of Literature, a part of the Creative Cities Network

Creative Cities Network

Not to be confused with:*Creative Cities, an international European project designed and managed by the British Council.*Creative city, an urban planning concept.*Creative City, an urban development project in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates....

. In 2011, he was appointed to the U.S. National Comission for UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

.

Life and career

He was educated at Middlebury College

Middlebury College

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...

 and the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

. He has published four collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets

Academy of American Poets

The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...

. He has also published translations, several edited volumes, and four books of nonfiction. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages, and his journalism appears in many publications. For ten years he was the book critic for the daily radio news program The World

The World (radio program)

PRI's The World is a global news radio, audio and multi-platform program created by Public Radio International based on the program's congruence with PRI's mission, and in order to fulfill the critical need for more original global news created for and provided to Americans. This was partly a...

. He has held the William H. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross

College of the Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...

.

Poetry

• Workbook (1988)
• Fevers & Tides (1989)
• Seven Poets, Four Days, One Book (Trinity University Press, 2009).

Nonfiction

• The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer (1994)
• The Old Bridge: The Third Balkan War and the Age of the Refugee (1995)
• Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain (2004)
• Cultural Diplomacy: The Linchpin of Public Diplomacy, Report of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State (2005)
• The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expediation, War (October, 2011)

Translation

• The City and the Child, poems by Aleš Debeljak (1999)
• Because of the Rain: A Selection of Korean Zen Poems (2006)
• Even Birds Leave the World: Selected Poems of Ji-woo Hwang (2006)
• Scale and Stairs: Selected Poems of Heeduk Ra (2009)
• Translucency: Selected Poems of Chankyung Sung, translated from the Korean with Won-Chung Kim. (2010)

Collections and anthologies

• What Will Suffice: Contemporary American Poets on the Art of Poetry From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O’Keeffe as Icon (editor) (1995)
• The Way to the Salt Marsh: A John Hay Reader (editor) (1998)

Translated works

• Christopher Merrill: Sajak sajak (Poems), translated into Malay (2006)
• Why the Grass Whispered Again: Selected Poems, translated into Arabic (2007)

Awards, fellowships, and prizes

• Sherman Brown Neff Fellowship, University of Utah (1986–1987)
• John Ciardi Fellow in Poetry, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference (1989)
• Pushcart Prize XV in Poetry (1990)
• Editors’ Award in Poetry, Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry & Prose (1990)
• Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in Poetry (1991)
• Readers’ Choice Award in Poetry, Prairie Schooner (1992)
• The Academy of American Poets Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award (1993)
• Translation Award, Slovenian Ministry of Culture (1997)
• Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize (for The Four Questions of Melancholy: New and Selected Poems by Tomaž Šalamun (editor)) (1997)
• Writers Association of Bosnia-Herzegovina Annual Literary Award, The Bosnian Stecak (2001)
• Translation Awards, Korean Literature Translation Institute (2003, 2004, 2006)
• Kostas Kyriazis Foundation Honorary International Literary Prize (2005)
• Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Ministry of Culture and Communications (2006)

External links

• Christopher Merrill Web site
• Interview, Urhalpool magazine, April 2009
• Cultural Diplomacy: The Linchpin of Public Diplomacy, Report of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State