Michael Benedikt was born in 1935 in
New York City. He received his B.A. from
New York University and earned a master's degree in English & Comparative Literature from
Columbia University. Prior to publishing his first collection of poetry, Benedikt co-edited three anthologies of 20th-Century Poetic Theatre from abroad. His anthology of twentieth-century American plays was issued in 1968. He was also the editor of two landmark anthologies of twentieth-century poetry:
The Poetry of Surrealism in 1974; and
The Prose Poem: An International Anthology in 1976. Benedikt was Poetry Editor for
The Paris Review from 1975 to 1978. His editorial selections are represented in
The Paris Review Anthology in 1990. Occasionally active as a critic/journalist, he is also a former Associate Editor of Art News and Art International. His literary criticism has appeared in
Poetry and
The American Book Review. Poems as yet uncollected in book form have appeared in the 1990s in such literary magazines as
Agni,
Iowa Review,
Michigan Quarterly Review,
The New Republic,
The Paris Review, and
Partisan Review. Early work appeared in the
avant garde little magazine Nomad at the beginning of the 1960s. His honors include a New York State Council for The Arts Grant, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and an NEA Fellowship. He has taught at Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Vassar, Hampshire Colleges, and at
Boston University. ==Work==