Portal:Minnesota/Selected biography/4

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Bly (born December 23, 1926) is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men's Movement in the United States. Bly was born in Madison, Minnesota to parents of Norwegian stock. Following graduation from Madison High School in 1944, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving two years. After one year at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, he transferred to Harvard University, joining the later famous group of writers who were undergraduates at that time, including Donald Hall, Adrienne Rich, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Harold Brodkey, George Plimpton, and John Hawkes. He graduated in 1950 and spent the next few years in New York. In 1966, Bly co-founded American Writers Against the Vietnam War, and went on to lead much of the opposition to that war among writers. When he won the National Book Award for The Light Around the Body, he contributed the prize money to the Resistance. Among his most famous works is Iron John: A Book About Men, an international bestseller which has been translated into many languages. In February, 2008, Bly was named Minnesota's first poet laureate. (Full article)