2021 Literature Publications and Grants

* Indicates student co-author

Cole, Henri. Blizzard: Poems. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021.

Abstract: A paperback edition of my tenth collection of poetry.

“‘Blizzard,’ like many of Cole’s recent books, is full of sonnets. He has made the form his own: often they begin loose-limbed and amiable, with an anecdote, then fall through a trapdoor of reminiscence and rue.”
—The New Yorker


Cole, Henri. Der Sichtbare Mensch: Ausgewählte Gedichte. [“The Visible Man”], translated by Hans Raimund. Loecker Erhard Verlag, 2021.

Abstract: A selection of poems translated into German and introduced by Hans Raimund. PEN Austria made this publication possible.


Cole, Henri. “Glass of Absinthe and Cigarette.” Poem. Liberties Journal vol. 1, no. 3, 2021.

Abstract: As the first line states: ‘This is a poem about a man who is dead.’


Cole, Henri. “Gross National Unhappiness.” Poem. The Best American Poetry 2021, edited by Tracy K. Smith and David Lehman. Scribner, 2021, p. 33.


Cole, Henri. “Guns.” Poem. Liberties Journal, vol. 1, no. 3, 2021.

Abstract: This poem was written in consideration of gun violence.


Cole, Henri. “Horace.” Poem. Liberties Journal, vol. 1, no. 3, 2021.

Abstract: This poem asks the reader to consider if one day the wilderness might cease to be.


Cole, Henri. “Lament for the Maker.” Poem. Liberties Journal, vol. 1, no. 3, 2021.

Abstract: This poem is an elegy for the poet Seamus Heaney, who was a friend and colleague.


Cole, Henri. “Morning Glory.” Poem. Poems of Healing, edited by Karl Kirchwey. Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Series, 2021, p. 176.

Abstract: One of the functions of poetry is to heal, from ancient times to the present. This poem was written in Japan, the country of my birth and a place of healing.


Cole, Henri. “New, Tender, Quick: A Visit to the Elizabeth Bishop House.” The Paris Review, November 23, 2021.

Abstract: This essay was written after spending a month in Great Village, Nova Scotia at the childhood home of Elizabeth Bishop, my favorite American poet.


Cole, Henri. “Notes on Chuck Close in Rome.” The Paris Review, August 27, 2021.

Abstract: This diary-essay is a reminiscence of the American painter Chuck Close in Rome.


Cole, Henri. “My Amaryllis.” Poem. The Atlantic, August 30, 2021.

Abstract: This flower poem is an Ars Poetica.


Cole, Henri. “Self-Portrait as the Red Princess.” Poem. The FSG Poetry Anthology, edited by Jonathan Galassi and Robyn Creswell. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2021.

Abstract: This poem is spoken by an onnagata (or male Kabuki actor) dressed as an akahime (or red princess).


Cole, Henri. “Self-Portrait with Rifle.” Poem. The FSG Poetry Anthology, edited by Jonathan Galassi and Robyn Creswell. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2021.

Abstract: This poem is a self-portrait of the poet as a boy learning to shoot a rifle.


Cole, Henri. “Slowly in Haste.” Liberties Journal, vol. 1, no. 3, 2021.

Abstract: This poem reflects upon an intruding past, a languishing present, and an uncertain future.


Cole, Henri. “Time and Weather.” Poem. Disaster Diary, edited by Jean Silverthorne and Susan Unterberg. Privately printed, 2021.

Abstract: This artist book is a collaborative visual response to climate change. My poem is a hopeful, post-Trump meditation after a time of darkness.


Cole, Henri. “Winter Solstice.” Poem. The New Yorker. December 20, 2021.

Abstract: This poem uses the Winter solstice and longer days as a metaphor for exploring the wish to live a long and productive life.


Cole, Henri. “Short Conversations with Poets: Henri Cole.” Interview by Ilya Kaminsky. McSweeney’s, January 15, 2021.

Abstract: This interview was occasioned by the publication of “Blizzard.”

von Hallberg, Robert and Robert Faggen, editors. Evaluations of U.S. Poetry Since 1950: Language, Form, Music, Volume 1. University of New Mexico Press, 2021.


von Hallberg, Robert and Robert Faggen, editors. Evaluations of U.S. Poetry Since 1950: Mind, Nation, Power, Volume 2. University of New Mexico Press, 2021.

Abstract: Over the last sixty years scholars and critics have focused on literary history and interpretation rather than literary value. When value is addressed, the standards are usually political and identitarian. The essays collected in both volumes of Evaluations of US Poetry Since 1950 move away from esoteric literary criticism toward a more speculative and evaluative inquiry that will serve as the basis from which poets will be discussed and taught over the next half-century and beyond.

Farrell, John. “The Recipe for Charles Wright,” Evaluations of US Poetry Since 1950. Vol. 1.: Language, Form, and Music, edited by Robert von Hallberg and Robert Faggen. University of New Mexico Press, 2021, pp. 245-259.

Abstract: The work of the distinguished American poet Charles Wright provides the opportunity to discuss the problem of literary evaluation and the kinds of explanation it depends upon.


Farrell, John. “What is Authorial Intention?Philosophy and Literature, vol. 45, no. 1, 2021, pp. 55-70.

Abstract: A from-the-bottom up clarification of the concept of authorial intention, aiming to clarify the longstanding confusions about this issue among literary critics.

Lobis, Seth. “Milton, Mill, and Berlin’s History of Monism and Pluralism.” Critical Review, vol. 32, issue 4, 2020, pp. 493-516.

(Please note that, although the issue is dated 2020, it was not published until June 2021.)
Abstract: I make the case that John Milton’s Areopagitica (1644), a treatise opposing the pre-publication licensing of books, sheds critical light on Isaiah Berlin’s highly influential account of value pluralism. In various works Berlin identified Machiavelli as the first thinker to challenge the assumption that all values were compatible and commensurable, and yet Berlin’s genealogy of pluralism largely ignores the intellectual developments and tensions of the seventeenth century. I suggest that, in the movement of Milton’s argument from a critique of licensing to a defense of limited toleration, a more complex and nuanced picture of the historical development of pluralistic thought emerges.

Moffett, Kevin. “Bears Among the Living.” Short Story. McSweeney’s Quarterly, Issue 63, 2021.


Moffett, Kevin. “Eight Days.” Short Story. LitMag, Issue 4, 2021.


Moffett, Kevin and Eli Horowitz. "The Final Chapters of Richard Brown Winters.” Scripted Podcast. Gimlet Media, 2021.

Abstract: Richard Brown Winters: bestselling author and legendary recluse. It’s been almost a decade since anyone’s heard from him, and most of his readers have given up hope of ever finding out the fate of wasteland warrior Casio Zook and his loyal falcon. But that doesn’t stop one ardent fan from joining a ragtag group journeying to Winters’ desert cabin—and what they find threatens to destroy the Wintersverse forever. A scripted podcast produced by Gimlet Media and released as a Spotify Exclusive. Starring Sam Waterston, Catherine Keener, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Parker Posey, and Bobby Cannavale. With music by Calexico.


Moffett, Kevin. “How Soon Until We’re Deadly?” Short Story. American Short Fiction, Issue 73, 2021.

Karlberg, Michael and Derik Smith. “Responding to Injustice with Constructive Agency.” The World of the Bahá’í Faith, edited by Robert H. Stockman. Routledge, 2021, pp. 442-449.

Abstract: Bahá’ís are increasingly contributing to the global conversation on nonviolent social change in ways that draw on an accumulating body of experience. In this regard, the Bahá’í community comprises a growing movement of people across the planet, representing a microcosm of humanity, working to translate commonly held spiritual principles into a new social reality through an evolving framework of action. This chapter examines salient elements of this framework in relation to insights from the theory and practice of nonviolent social change. It begins by considering how Bahá’ís understand the root causes of oppression. The dual problems of complacency and contentiousness in the face of oppression are then discussed, followed by an examination of the constructive and resilient means by which Bahá’ís work for social transformation and justice. The chapter concludes by examining those means through the lens of movement building.

von Hallberg, Robert and Robert Faggen, editors. Evaluations of U.S. Poetry Since 1950: Language, Form, Music, Volume 1. University of New Mexico Press, 2021.


von Hallberg, Robert and Robert Faggen, editors. Evaluations of U.S. Poetry Since 1950: Mind, Nation, Power, Volume 2. University of New Mexico Press, 2021.

Abstract: Over the last sixty years scholars and critics have focused on literary history and interpretation rather than literary value. When value is addressed, the standards are usually political and identitarian. The essays collected in both volumes of Evaluations of US Poetry Since 1950 move away from esoteric literary criticism toward a more speculative and evaluative inquiry that will serve as the basis from which poets will be discussed and taught over the next half-century and beyond.

Warner, Nicholas. “World War II in Film.” Oxford University Press Bibliographies Online, June 23, 2021.