Coulette, Henri, 1927-1988

Henri Coulette (1927-1988) was an award winning poet and educator. He published The war of secret agents (1965) and The family Goldschmitt (1971), and served as editor for The unstrung lyre : Interviews with fourteen poets (1965). Coulette contributed to various publications, including New poets of England and America (1957), Paris review, New Yorker, and Hudson review.

From the description of Papers of Henri Coulette, 1955-1998. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 122386605

Biographical Note

Henri Anthony Coulette was born in Los Angeles, California on November 11, 1927. He received his B.A. from Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles) in 1952, his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1954 and his PhD from Iowa in 1959. Coulette taught high school English, was an instructor in the University of Iowa writer's workshop (1957-1959), and for most of his career, was a professor of English at California State University, Los Angeles (1959-1988). Coulette published The War of the Secret Agents, his first book of verse in 1965 and his second, The Family Goldschmitt, in 1971. He contributed to New Poets of England and America (1957); The Attic, (1959); Poetry for Pleasure (1960). Coulette served as the editor for The Unstrung Lyre: Interviews with Fourteen Poets (1965). Coulette also contributed to Paris Review, New Yorker, and Hudson Review. Coulette's first book of verse, The War of the Secret Agents, was awarded the James D. Phelan Foundation award (given each year to a California artist) and the Lamont Poetry Prize for the best first volume of poetry published in America in 1965. Coulette was named Cal State L.A.'s Outstanding Professor of the Year in 1970 and in 1976 was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim memorial fellowship. Coulette was best known for his traditionally metered poetry and as an educator, editor, and poet. Coulette died of apparent heart failure on March 26, 1988.

From the guide to the Henri Coulette Papers, 1955-1990, (The Huntington Library)