Donald Justice

Revered by other poets for his literary craftsmanship, Justice's work concerns itself with precision. But it also makes use of chance methods and experimentation (Justice has, on occasion, shuffled word cards to compose poems).

Born in Miami, Florida, he enrolled at the University of Miami, receiving a B.A. degree in 1945. Following studies at the University of North Carolina and Stanford University, he attended the University of Iowa where he earned a Ph.D. degree in 1954. At Iowa, Paul Engle, then the director of the Creative Writing Program, convinced Justice to teach a poetry workshop. Justice later joined the faculty at the UI Writers' Workshop. He has also taught at Syracuse University, the University of California at Irvine, and the University of Florida.

His first collection of poems, The Summer Anniversaries (1960), won a Lamont Award. His other works include Night Light (1967), Departures (1973), Platonic Scripts (1984), and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Selected Poems (1979).

Author biography from the UI Pulitzer Prize Winners' webpage

Alumni |Faculty |Iowa Writers' Workshop
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