Poet, Professor
David St. John has been honored, over the course of his career, with many prizes, including both The Rome Fellowship and The Award in Literature from The American Academy of Arts and Letters; the O. B. Hardison Prize (a career award for teaching and poetic achievement) from The Folger Shakespeare Library; and the George Drury Smith Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the author of twelve collections of poetry (including Study for the World’s Body, nominated for The National Book Award in Poetry), most recently, The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems; as well as a volume of essays, interviews and reviews entitled Where the Angels Come Toward Us.
David St. John has written two libretti: for the opera based on his book, The Face, by Donald Crockett, and the choral symphony, The Shore, by Frank Ticheli. He is also the co-editor of American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology of New Poetry. A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, David St. John is University Professor and chair of English at The University of Southern California. He lives in Venice Beach.