Barbara helfgott hyett biography

Barbara Helfgott Hyett is a cofounder of the Writer's Room of Boston and is currently the director of POEMWORKS: The Workshop for Publishing Poets.
Barbara Helfgott Hyett began writing in 1978, and published her first book, In Evidence: Poems of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps, in 1986.
Barbara Helfgott Hyett, has published four collections of poetry, the most recent titled “Rift”, that is out from the University of Arkansas.

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Barbara Helfgott Hyett began writing in 1978, and published her first book, In Evidence: Poems of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps, in 1986. She published widely in the years that followed, and her 1992 collection, The Tracks We Leave: Poems on Endangered Wildlife of North America, was a pioneer in the genre of ecopoetry. Her other books, Natural Law, The Double Reckoning of Christopher Columbus, Rift and Come Thunder have all received acclaim. Helfgott Hyett has twice received The New England Poetry Club’s Gertrude Warren Prize, and was a finalist for the Academy of American Poets’ Walt Whitman Prize and the Yale Younger Poet’s Prize. She has received numerous fellowships, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, The Boston Foundation, and others. She also served as a judge for the Elie Wiesel Foundation’s Ethics Prize for over 20 years. She has been a dedicated literary citizen throughout her career, teaching at schools and colleges in the Boston area, and co-founding the Writer’s Room of Boston. Her signature workshop, PoemWorks, was nam

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“Barbara Helfgott Hyett’s poems reflect both her anguish and her fervor; their warmth elevates the reader to spiritual heights.” —Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and author of Night “Helfgott Hyett’s poems about love, infidelity and the body in all its guises are tough, tender, and juicy.” —Maxine Kumin, author of Still to Mow, Poems “Barbara Helfgott Hyett’s Rift is a book born of acute psychic necessity and there is not a trifle or bauble in it. . . . Faced with the annihilation of the life she has known, Helfgott Hyett employs her imagination, her learning, and her poetic virtuosity to search among biblical and mythic narratives, arctic expeditions, memories, meteor showers, classical and romantic art, and history for a way forward. This book is that way, a profound gift to all of us. The title sequence is itself a major work, a rich, polyvocal, unflinching vision of the world we live in now." —Richard Hoffman, author of Half the House, Without Paradise, and Gold Star Road “Helfgott Hyett takes up the theme of loss, specifically the break-up of a long marriage, in poems that are di

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Barbara Helfgott Hyett: A Poetry Teacher that looks for work that sings!

Barbara Helfgott Hyett, has published four collections of poetry, the most recent titled “Rift”, that is out from the University of Arkansas Press.” Poet-in-Residence at Emerson College (Boston) Richard Hoffman writes of her collection:

“ …Rift is a book born of acute psychic necessity and there is not a trifle or bauble in it. Faced with the annihilation, of the life she has known, Helfgott employs imagination, her learning and her poetic virtuosity to search among biblical and mythic narratives for a way forward.”

Hyett’s work has appeared in a slew of top shelf literary journals including: Hudson Review, Agni, Ploughshares, The Women’s Review of Books, and has taught at MIT, Harvard, and Boston University. She is the recipient of two Massachusetts Cultural Artist Fellowships, a fellowship in poetry at Yaddo, to name just a few honors. She founded the well-regarded poetry workshop “PoemWorks” some twenty-five years ago.

Doug Holder: Barbara