Stephen Yenser
Stephen Yenser (born 1941, Wichita, Kansas, United States) is an American poet and literary critic who has published three acclaimed volumes of verse, as well as books on James Merrill, Robert Lowell, and an assortment of contemporary poets. McClatchy, he is co-literary executor of the James Merrill estate and co-editor of six volumes of Merrill's work.
Stephen Yenser
- Name
- Stephen Yenser
- Born
- 1941
- Birthplace
- Wichita, Kansas, United States
- Occupation
- Poet, literary critic, professor
- Education
- University of Wisconsin
- Spouse
- Melissa Berton
- Awards
- Walt Whitman Award, Pushcart Prize, Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, others
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Stephen Yenser (born 1941, Wichita, Kansas, United States) is an American poet and literary critic who has published three acclaimed volumes of verse, as well as books on James Merrill, Robert Lowell, and an assortment of contemporary poets. McClatchy, he is co-literary executor of the James Merrill estate and co-editor of six volumes of Merrill's work.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Stephen Yenser. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2345200 · wikipedia · Stephen Yenser
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Stephen Yenser • Born — 1941 • Birthplace — Wichita, Kansas, United States • Occupation — Poet, literary critic, professor • Education — University of Wisconsin • Employer — University of California, Los Angeles • Spouse — Melissa Berton • Children — Helen • Awards — Walt Whitman Award, Pushcart Prize, Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, others
Life
Life
Yenser graduated from the University of Wisconsin, studying with James Merrill in 1967 on one of the rare occasions when the poet taught. Merrill dedicated to Yenser his final, posthumous collection, A Scattering of Salts (1995). Yenser is Professor of English Emeritus and founding Director of Creative Writing at the University of California, Los Angeles, curating the Hammer Poetry Series at the Hammer Museum. His work has appeared in Paris Review, Poetry, Southwest Review, Yale Review, "The New Yorker," and many other magazines. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Melissa Berton and daughter Helen.
Poetry
Poetry
• Stone Fruit(Waywiser Press, 2016), poetry 93 pages, • Blue Guide (University of Chicago Press, 2006), poetry, 96 pages, • The Fire in All Things (LSU Press, 1993), poetry, 64 pages,
Essays
Essays
• A Boundless Field: American Poetry at Large (University of Michigan Press, 2002), Poets on Poetry Series, 256 pages, • The Consuming Myth: The Work of James Merrill (Harvard University Press, 1987), 384 pages, • Circle to Circle: The Poetry of Robert Lowell (University of California Press,1976), 370 pages,
Editor
Editor
* * * * * *
Other
Other
* * *
Awards
• Appearances in BEST AMERICAN POETRY anthologies 1992, 1995, 2011 • 1992 Walt Whitman Award. selected by Richard Howard • "Discovery"/The Nation Award • Fulbright Teaching Fellowships to Greece and France • Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in Poetry • Pushcart Prize • B. F. Connors Prize for Poetry from the Paris Review. • Harvey L. Eby Teaching Award at UCLA
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,296 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Stephen TurnbullAuthor
- Stephen Vincent BenétAuthor
- Stephen WatsonAuthor
- Stephen WhiteAuthor
- Sterjo SpasseAuthor
- Sterling Allen BrownAuthor
- Sterling NorthAuthor
- StesichorusAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Stephen Yenser?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.