{"id":6626,"date":"2016-06-22T18:17:54","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T18:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/?p=6626"},"modified":"2016-06-22T18:34:49","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T18:34:49","slug":"bill-berkson-poet-teacher-art-critic-archivist-and-friend-rest-in-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2016\/06\/22\/bill-berkson-poet-teacher-art-critic-archivist-and-friend-rest-in-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Berkson, Poet, Teacher, Art Critic, Archivist and Friend: 1939-2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/files\/2016\/06\/billberkson1985.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6627\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/files\/2016\/06\/billberkson1985-727x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Bill Berkson 1985\" width=\"373\" height=\"523\" \/><\/a>We are saddened to learn that Bill Berkson died last Thursday in San Francisco\u00a0at the age of seventy-six. \u00a0Berkson, a prolific American poet, art critic, and teacher, was also a muse, a world traveler, a lifelong gatherer\u00a0and archivist, and to many of us in\u00a0Archives and Special Collections at UConn, home of the Bill Berkson Papers, a literary giant, a generous collaborator and donor, and a friend.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/archives.lib.uconn.edu\/islandora\/object\/20002%3A860164420\">The Bill Berkson Papers<\/a>\u00a0comprise over one hundred linear feet of\u00a0literary manuscripts, letters, drafts of poetry, notebooks, lecture notes, interviews, Big Sky Books and Press records, photographs, audio recordings, broadsides, rare publications, family papers, and personal ephemera.<\/p>\n<p>Used by students and scholars alike, the archive spans from 1959 to 2016 and documents the poet\u2019s extensive body of work, his collaborations in and among the realms of visual art, media, and literature, and his affinities with the poets and artists of the New York School.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/files\/2016\/06\/berksonrootsBigSky5-1973.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6628\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/files\/2016\/06\/berksonrootsBigSky5-1973-1024x719.jpg\" alt=\"berksonrootsBigSky5-1973\" width=\"618\" height=\"438\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Berkson wrote more than twenty collections of poetry, beginning in 1961 with \u201cSaturday Night: Poems 1960-61.&#8221; His most recent book, \u201cInvisible Oligarchs: Russia Notebook, January-June 2006 &amp; After,\u201d a travel journal, was published this year. \u00a0He is survived by his wife, curator Constance Lewallen; son Moses Berkson and daughter Siobhan O\u2019Hare Mora Lopez, from his first marriage, to Lynn O\u2019Hare Berkson; stepchildren Jonathan Lewallen and Nina Lewallen Hufford; and six grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/art\/article\/Bill-Berkson-San-Francisco-poet-art-critic-and-8283479.php\">According to San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>, donations in Mr. Berkson\u2019s name may be sent to Foundation for Contemporary Arts and Poets in Need.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are saddened to learn that Bill Berkson died last Thursday in San Francisco\u00a0at the age of seventy-six. \u00a0Berkson, a prolific American poet, art critic, and teacher, was also a muse, a world traveler, a lifelong gatherer\u00a0and archivist, and to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2016\/06\/22\/bill-berkson-poet-teacher-art-critic-archivist-and-friend-rest-in-peace\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6626"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6635,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6626\/revisions\/6635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}