Jack Anderson (1935-2023) was born in Milwaukee. He earned a BA at Northwestern University and completed graduate study at Indiana University, where he earned an MA, and at the University of California at Berkeley. In his dryly witty poems, Anderson often explores themes of travel and urban life. His numerous poetry collections include Getting Lost in a City Like This (2009), Traffic: New and Selected Prose Poems (1998), Field Trips on the Rapid Transit (1990), Selected Poems (1983), and The Invention of New Jersey (1969), which was chosen for the Pitt Poetry Series. His poetry has also been featured in the anthologies Off the Cuffs (2003, edited by Jackie Sheeler) and Tokens: Contemporary Poetry of the Subway (2003, edited by Peggy Garrison and David Quintavalle).
His dance criticism has appeared in the New York Times, Dancing Times, and Dance Magazine. His books of dance history and criticism include Art Without Boundaries: The World of Modern Dance (1997) and Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History (1986, revised in 1992). In 1977, he and George Dorris cofounded Dance Chronicle: Studies in Dance and the Related Arts, a journal they coedited for nearly 30 years.
Anderson’s honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Pushcart Prize.
