Swallow, Alan, 1915-1966

Swallow was born in 1915; BA, English, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, 1937; MA and Ph. D, Louisiana State Univ.; taught at Univ. of New Mexico and Western State College before becoming full-time professor at Univ. of Denver; helped to found Univ. of Denver Press, 1947; created publishing company, Alan Swallow, Publisher, in 1954; later imprints included Big Mountain Press, Sage Books, and Swallow Paperbooks; published over four hundred titles, primarily of poetry, criticism, and Western Americana; died of a heart attack in 1966.

Writer, teacher, and founder of Swallow Press (Denver, Colo.).

Biography

Swallow was born in 1915; BA, English, University of Wyoming, Laramie, 1937; MA and Ph.D, Louisiana State University; taught at University of New Mexico and Western State College before becoming full-time professor at University of Denver; helped to found University of Denver Press, 1947; created publishing company, Alan Swallow, Publisher, in 1954; later imprints included Big Mountain Press, Sage Books, and Swallow Paperbooks; published over four hundred titles, primarily of poetry, criticism, and Western Americana; died of a heart attack in 1966.

Alan Swallow was born February 11, 1915, in Powell, Wyoming. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Wyoming in 1937 and an M.A. degree from Louisiana State University in 1939. At LSU he studied under Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks.

Swallow was an instructor at the University of New Mexico (1940-1942) and associate professor of English at Western State College (1942-1943). He then taught at the University of Denver as assistant professor(1948-1954). He also directed the writing program at U. of Denver and from 1947 to 1953 was director of the University Press. In 1940, Swallow became the founder, owner, and single employee of his publishing firm, Alan Swallow, Publisher. He sought to promote the poetry and fiction of contemporary writers who are often unrecognized by the larger commercial publishers. His list included J.V. Cunningham, Thomas McGrath, Janet Lewis, and the more well known Yvor Winters and Allen Tate. Swallow has also written and published several books of poems and has edited anthologies of poetry and of prose. He lectured at various writers' conferences and was a member of the Western Writers of America, Colorado Authors League, Denver Westerners, and American Civil Liberties Union. He died on November 27, 1966 in Denver, Colorado.