Anania, Michael, 1939-

Poet, writer, editor, professor. Born 1939.

From the description of Papers, 1950-2008 (University of Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 318586711

Michael Anania was born on August 5, 1939 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Dora, was born in Germany and his father, Angelo, was born in Omaha to Italian parents. Angelo died of tuberculosis when Anania was nine years old, and his memories of and interest in his father appears throughout his poetry and writing. In December 1960, Anania married Joanne Oliver and they had one child, Francesca.

Anania attended inner-city schools in Omaha and went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts from the Municipal University of Omaha (now the University of Nebraska-Omaha) in 1961. While an undergraduate, he edited the campus literary magazine and wrote poetry, plays, and stories, often influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and existentialism. Anania was a Fellow in English and American Literature and worked toward a Ph.D. from State University of New York – Albany, where he wrote his dissertation on William Carlos Williams. He was an instructor of English at SUNY Buffalo in 1964, SUNY Fredonia from 1964-1965, and Northwestern University from 1965-1968. He was a professor of English at University of Illinois – Chicago from 1968-2003, director of the Graduate Program for Writers, and also visiting professor at Northwestern University and University of Chicago. He taught courses in creative writing, poetry, English literature, American literature, fiction, drama, and literary criticism.

Two of Anania’s early influences were William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens. Throughout his career, he established relationships with and was influenced by other renowned poets, including Karl Shapiro, whom he met while at the Municipal University of Omaha. While at Buffalo, he met and worked with Albert Cook, Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Gregory Corso, Ed Dorn, Leroi Jones, Diane Wakowski, Leslie Fiedler, and Hugh Kenner. At a Poetry event Anania met W.H. Auden, who helped foster Anania’s appreciation for English poetry.

Anania wrote or edited over twenty books, mainly poetry, including The Color of Dust (1970), Riversongs (1978), The Sky at Ashland (1986), In Plain Sight: Essays (1991), Selected Poems (1994), In Natural Light (1999), and Heat Lines (2006), plus a novel, The Red Menace (1984). His work also appears in many anthologies, including New Poetry Anthology (1969), Beowulf to the Beatles (1972), Chicago Works (1990), Smokestacks and Skyscrapers: An Anthology of Chicago Writing (1999), Illinois Voices (2001), Poems of the Sea and the Land (2004), and The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, as well as numerous periodicals such as Poetry, Tri-Quarterly, Partisan Review, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Columbia Review of the Arts, Vortex, and Literary Review.

Besides being a prolific writer, Anania held many editorial positions. He was poetry editor for Audit, a quarterly and Partisan Review, poetry and literary editor of The Swallow Press, contributing editor to Tri-Quarterly and VENUE, and on the boards of Wesleyan University Press, Prairie State Editions of the University of Illinois Press, Thunder’s Mouth Press, Encyclopedia of Chicago History, and Dalkey Archive Press.

In addition to teaching and writing, Anania involved himself in various professional and literary organizations, such as the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, National Endowment for the Arts, Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, Illinois Arts Council, Poetry Center of Chicago, Read Illinois Program, Illinois Center for the Book, and The Arts Club of Chicago. He served on panels for the Artists Foundation in Boston, Carl Sandburg Awards at the Chicago Public Library, Chicago Council on Fine Arts, Society of Midland Authors, The Fiction Collective, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Arts Councils of several states. He also participated in the Poetry-in-the-Schools and Artists-in-the-Schools Programs in the Chicago area, where he conducted workshops for teachers and taught poetry classes to elementary and secondary school students. Anania also served on committees for programs such as Writing in Chicago, Italian American History Project, The Great Chicago Poetry Reunion, White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services, and Illinois Literary Heritage Conferences.

Anania performed readings and did interviews for several audio and video series, such as Dialogue, Hadley School Audio Tape Series, Illinois Reads, Library of Congress, and Nobel Laureate Series, and radio stations including BBC, Oregon Public Radio, Radio Bremen, Radio Nord (Hamburg), and Western Iowa Public Radio. His poetry has also been set to the stage by the Reed College Dance Company, MoMing Dance Collection (Chicago), Nebraska State Historical Society, The Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, and the Organic Theatre (Chicago). He gave lectures at the University of Victoria, Modern Languages Association, University of Cincinnati Conference on Poetry Programs, Illinois Writers’ Incorporated Conference, Art Institute of Chicago, National Writers’ Congress, The Field Museum (Chicago), Illinois Humanities Festival, Book America Expo, and the Goethe Institute Colloquium on Translation. He also gave poetry and fiction readings at Aurora University, Amerika Haus (Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover), Arizona State University, Boston University, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Public Library, Library of Congress, National College of Education, New School for Social Thought, New York Public Library, Notre Dame University, Poetry Center of Chicago, Poetry Magazine, Smith College, University of Michigan, Vancouver Arts Center, and Yale University.

Anania received several awards for his writing, including the Friends of Literature Poetry Prize (1970), Roadstead Fellowship (1970-1972), Best Short Stories (1979), Pushcart Prize (1980), Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction (1980), five Arts Council Literary Awards (1974-1989), National Magazine Award (1981), IATE Author of the Year (1985), and the Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Paperback Novel (The Red Menace, 1994).

Anania remains involved in several organizations and continues to write.

From the guide to the Anania, Michael. Papers, circa 1950s-2006, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)