Howe, Fanny, 1940-

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Fanny Howe, born in Buffalo (N.Y.) in 1940, is an award-winning poet, novelist, and filmmaker. She is the author of over 50 books of poetry and prose, including Manimal Woe (2021), Love and I: Poems (2019), Needle’s Eye: Passing Through Youth (2016), Second Childhood (2014), The Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocation (2009), The Wedding Dress: Meditations on Word and Life (2003) and Indivisible (2000).

Howe was raised in Cambridge (Mass.) with her sisters, Susan Howe and Helen Howe Braider, who are also artists. Her father, Mark DeWolfe Howe, Jr., was a professor at Harvard Law School, a WWII veteran, a civil rights lawyer, and the first Charles Warren Professor in the History of American Law. Howe's mother, Mary Manning Howe, acted in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, before emigrating to the United States, where she founded the experimental Poets’ Theatre in Cambridge in 1950.

The journals in this collection begin in the Boston area, around the time of Howe’s father’s death (in 1967) and her early married years with writer and activist Carl Senna. The diaries also document the births and raising of her children, the development of her philosophical, political, and spiritual ideas, including her first encounter with the work of Simone Weil (in 1970) and her conversion to Catholicism (in 1982), and the research and thinking behind a range of Howe’s poetry and prose collections. In 1989, Howe moved to San Diego to assume a tenured faculty position at UCSD. She remained there until her retirement in 2000, when she returned to the East Coast.

Over the course of her active career, Howe also taught at Tufts University, Emerson College, Kenyon College, Columbia University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Georgetown University. After UCSD, she spent several years traveling, teaching, and writing in such locations as West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard (where she purchased a cottage in 1998; later sold in 2015), New York City, Washington, DC, London, and as an annual resident (for over 22 years) at Glenstal Abbey, County Limerick, Ireland. From 2010-2022, she resided in West Cambridge, with frequent visits to see her children in Oxford, England (Ann Lucien Senna); Pasadena, California (Danzy Senna); and Martha’s Vineyard/Boston/Santa Cruz (Maceo Senna). At the time of this donation, she resided in West Cambridge.

[Source: text by Christina Davis for finding aid for Fanny Howe notebooks and diaries, Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2022 April]

Fanny Howe is Professor of Writing and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. She is the author of more than twenty books of fiction and poetry, most recently, One Crossed Out, 1997.

From the guide to the Howe, Fanny. Papers, 1981-1995, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Howe, Fanny. Papers, 1980-1990 Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn James Tate Papers TXRC05-A10003., 1944-1998 (bulk 1962-1998) Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
referencedIn Clayton Eshleman Papers, 1958 - 1993 University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
creatorOf Fanny Howe Papers Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn Paul A. Freund papers Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Graywolf Press Archives, 1978-2010 University of Minnesota Libraries. Literary Manuscripts Collection, Manuscripts Division. [mss]
Fanny Howe notebooks and diaries Houghton Library
referencedIn Susan Howe papers Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Maureen Owen Papers, 1970-2000 University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
referencedIn Flood Editions. Records, 1998-2007 Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library,
referencedIn Rae Armantrout papers, circa 1970-2001 Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn Sun & Moon Press Archive, 1976-2002 University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
referencedIn Rae Armantrout Papers, 1954-2009 Mandeville Special Collections Library
referencedIn Dennis Phillips Papers, 1971 - 1998 University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
referencedIn Maureen Owen collection of Greenwich Village poetry, 1975-1981 Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn United Artists (New York, N.Y.) Records, 1977-1983 University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
referencedIn Antioch Review mss., 1940-2007 Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
referencedIn Lyn Hejinian Papers, 1966-2004 University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Antioch review. corporateBody
correspondedWith Armantrout, Rae, 1947- person
associatedWith Auster, Paul, 1947- person
associatedWith Banks, Russell, 1940- person
associatedWith Beckett, Samuel, 1906- person
associatedWith Bernstein, Charles, 1950- person
associatedWith Blitz, Michael. person
associatedWith Brown, Harriet, 1958- person
associatedWith Brustein, Robert Sanford, 1927- person
associatedWith Cardenoso, Cecilio. person
associatedWith Chester, Laura. person
associatedWith Clark, Tom. person
associatedWith Corbett, William, 1942- person
associatedWith Creeley, Robert, 1926- person
associatedWith Cuddihy, Michael. person
associatedWith Dahlen, Beverly. person
associatedWith Davidson, Michael, 1944- person
associatedWith Davis, Lydia. person
associatedWith De Lissovoy, Peter. person
correspondedWith Eshleman, Clayton person
associatedWith Flaherty, Joe. person
associatedWith Flood Editions corporateBody
associatedWith Fraser, Kathleen, 1937- person
associatedWith Gander, Forrest, 1956- person
associatedWith Graywolf Press corporateBody
associatedWith Greenfield, Amy. person
associatedWith Griffith, Sarah. person
associatedWith Grossman, Judith, 1937- person
associatedWith Harper, Michael, 1931- person
associatedWith Harryman, Carla. person
associatedWith Hartz, J. person
correspondedWith Hejinian, Lyn person
associatedWith Hickman, Leland. person
associatedWith Hicks, Kevin. person
associatedWith Howe, Helen Huntington. person
associatedWith Howe, Susan, 1937- person
associatedWith Howe, Tina. person
associatedWith Kaplan, Felicia. person
associatedWith Killian, Kevin. person
associatedWith Kraman, Cynthia, 1950- person
associatedWith Major, Clarence. person
associatedWith Mayer, Bernadette. person
associatedWith McPherson, James M. person
associatedWith McShane, Frank. person
associatedWith Messerli, Douglas, 1947- person
associatedWith Mirsky, Mark. person
associatedWith Norman, Howard A. person
associatedWith Olsen, Tillie. person
correspondedWith Owen, Maureen, 1943- person
associatedWith Palmer, Michael. person
associatedWith Paradiso, Peter. person
associatedWith Paul A. Freund person
correspondedWith Phillips, Dennis person
associatedWith Rodefer, Stephen. person
associatedWith Sandy, Steve. person
associatedWith Silliman, Ronald, 1946- person
associatedWith Simic, Charles, 1938- person
associatedWith Soling, Caytha. person
correspondedWith Sun & Moon Press corporateBody
associatedWith Tate, James, 1943- person
associatedWith Tate, James, 1943- person
correspondedWith United Artists (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Vaeth, Kim, 1952- person
associatedWith Valentine, Jean. person
associatedWith Verdicchio, Pasquale, 1954- person
associatedWith Walker, Alice, 1944- person
associatedWith Warsh, Lewis. person
associatedWith Watten, Barrett. person
associatedWith Williams, Jonathan, 1929- person
associatedWith Williamson, Anne. person
associatedWith Wise, Kelly. person
associatedWith Wright, Carol, (Carol S.) person
associatedWith Young, Geoffrey. person
associatedWith Zucker, Ilona. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Buffalo NY US
Cambridge MA US
Subject
American literature
Occupation
Teachers
Poets
Activity

Person

Birth 1940-10-15

Americans

English

Information

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Ark ID: w6330nmq

SNAC ID: 87636208