Richie Hofmann
Richie Hofmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Joseph Hofmann May 26, 1987 |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, Emory University |
| Genre | American poetry, Ekphrastic poetry |
| Spouse | Ryan Hagerty |
Richard "Richie" Joseph Hofmann, is an American poet, winner of the Alice James Award, and the Pushcart Prize. He is regularly published in The New Yorker,[1][2][3] and has been featured in The Atlantic,[4] The New York Times[5][6] and The New York Review of Books.[7] Hofmann was the Jones Lecturer in poetry at Stanford University, where he taught poetry and creative writing courses.[8]
Life and career[edit]
Hofmann is of German descent on both sides, with his father's family originating from Speyer.[9] He spent his early childhood in Munich, which he cites as formative in his exploration of the concept of time, and his relationship to Europe within poetry.[10]
He has contributed to The New Yorker since 2013, including audio readings for the online portion of the magazine. In interviews Hofmann often cites music, in particular opera and musicals, as having a strong influence on his life and work.[11] He has described Sondheim's music as "the rock of my life",[12] and wrote the poem "Birthday" as a tribute to Mozart.[13] Hofmann collaborated with the composer Brian Baxter to write the lyrics for the piece "Old World Elegy" for voice and string quartet. The world premier was held in Chicago, hosted by the Poetry Foundation, and won the Memorious Art Song Contest of 2013.[14]
Hofmann's work often explores male desire, and relationship to the body.[15] Comparisons drawn between his work and that of the late French autofiction writer and photographer Hervé Guibert, led Hofmann to write more "intensely, in a way which was more vulgar".[16] He also frequently includes classical themes and images in his poetry.[17]
In 2015 Hofmann published his first collection of poems, titled "Second Empire" with Alice James Books which became critically acclaimed including the Pushcart Prize for poetry.[18] That year he also co-founded Lightbox Poetry, an online educational resource for creative writing, with fellow poet Kara van de Graaf.[19] One of his most widely known poems is "Book of Statues", about the hate crime murder of Matthew Shepard on October 12, 1998. The poem was first published by the Academy of American Poets Poem-a Day on October 12, 2016. On the twentieth remembrance of Matthew Shepard's murder in 2018, The New York Times featured his poem with a reading by actor Matt Bomer.[20]
Hofmann published his second poetry collection "A Hundred Lovers" in 2022 with Random House.[21] The book was featured in the list of top "46 Must-Read Books by Queer Writers" in Esquire Magazine.[22]
Awards[edit]
Hofmann has been the beneficiary of several fellowships, including the Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation and the Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University.[23][8]
For his first collection of poems, "Second Empire", Hofmann won both the Alice James Award in 2014, and the Pushcart Prize.
Personal life[edit]
Hofmann is married to Ryan Hagerty to whom his first book, Second empire, is dedicated.[21] He has lived between the cities of Chicago and San Francisco.
Poetry collections[edit]
- Hofmann, Richie (2015). Second empire (First ed.). Farmington, Maine: Alice James. ISBN 9781938584169.
- Hofmann, Richie (2022). A hundred lovers : poems (First ed.). New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780593320983.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ ""French Novel"". The New Yorker. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ ""Under Limestone"". The New Yorker. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ "Idyll". The New Yorker. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Hofmann, Richie (13 March 2022). "Night Star". The Atlantic. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Rider, Jason (6 March 2013). "Young Poets Society". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
- ^ Chee, Alexander (26 February 2018). "'The Boys in the Band' Cast Reads Queer Poetry". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Hofmann, Richie. "At the Rustic Hamlet Built in 1783 for Marie Antoinette, Last Queen of France | Richie Hofmann". New York Review of Books. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ a b "Richie Hofmann | Department of English". Stanford University. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Wiora, Brian (17 September 2018). "Heading Back into Memory: An Interview with Richie Hofmann". Columbia Journal. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Hofmann, Richie. "My Ekphrasis". Nicholas Hall. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Shpakow, Tatiana; Voruganti, Priyanka. "3Q4: Richie Hofmann". The Interlochen Review. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ Case, Doug Paul. "Being Cute, Being Funny: An Interview with Richie Hofmann by Doug Paul Case". www.hobartpulp.com. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ Hofmann, Richie. "Birthday by Richie Hofmann - Poems | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ Hofmann, Richard Joseph (13 March 2014). Blackletter (Thesis). Johns Hopkins University. p. 56. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
- ^ "Interview with Richie Hofmann". Napkin Poetry Review. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Mehrish, Divya (10 August 2022). "Issue Forty-Two: A Conversation with Richie Hofmann - The Adroit Journal". The Adroit Journal. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Harrison, Julia. "3Q4: Richie Hofmann". The Sewanee Review. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Hofmann, Richie (2015). Second empire. Farmington, Maine: Alice James Books. ISBN 9781938584169.
- ^ "About". Lightbox Poetry. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ Stumpf, Brendan (26 February 2018). "Video: Read T a Poem | Matt Bomer". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ a b Hofmann, Richie (2022). A hundred lovers : poems (First ed.). New York. ISBN 9780593320983.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Ortile, Matt (16 June 2022). "46 Must-Read Books by Queer Writers". Esquire. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ Staff, Harriet (3 October 2022). "Richie Hofmann on the Significance of Louise Glück's Nobel Win by Harriet Staff". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 4 October 2022.