Paul Violi

Paul Violi (1944-2011) was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island.  After a stint in the Peace Corps in Nigeria and travels in Europe and Asia, he settled down in New York  with his wife, Ann, first in Manhattan’s East Village, then upstate in Beacon and finally Putnam Valley.  In addition to publishing 15 books of poetry, he taught creative writing at NYU, Columbia, The New School, Montclair State, Sing Sing prison, and The Poetry Project, among other places, and co-founded the Swollen Magpie press, which published the poet/painters anthology Broadway (eds. James Schuyler and Charles North) as well as books by North, Tony Towle, Joseph Ceravolo, Mary Ferrari, Philip Lopate, and others. He  worked as managing editor of Architectural Forum, and  from 1974-1983 he was Chair of the Museum of Modern Art’s Associate Council Poetry Committee. Among Violi’s poetry awards are two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant, the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Morton Dauwen Zabel Award.