David Shapiro (born January 2, 1947) is an American poet, literary critic, and art historian. He has written some twenty volumes of poetry, literary, and art criticism. He was first published at the age of thirteen, and his first book was published when he was just eighteen.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Shapiro grew up in Newark and attended Weequahic High School then Columbia University, from which he holds a B.A. (magna cum laude) and a Ph.D. (with distinction). He subsequently studied at the University of Cambridge, from which he holds degrees with first honors.
He achieved brief notoriety during the 1968 student uprising at Columbia, when he was photographed sitting behind the desk of President Grayson L. Kirk wearing dark glasses and smoking a cigar; Shapiro later described the cigar as "horrible".
David's grandfather was a cantor well known in the American Yiddish community. David has perfect pitch and is an accomplished violinist. (It's said he once played the violin for John Lennon.) His wife is an exhibition manager at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. David can often be seen at art galleries and museums, teaching, always teaching.
Shapiro has taught at Columbia, Bard College, the Cooper Union, Princeton University, and William Paterson University.
Shapiro wrote the first monograph on John Ashbery, the first book on Jim Dine’s paintings, the first book on Piet Mondrian’s flower studies, and the first book on Jasper Johns’ drawings. He has translated Rafael Alberti’s poems on Pablo Picasso, and the writings of the Sonia and Robert Delaunay.
List of works
January: A Book of Poems—Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965
Poems From Deal—E P Dutton, 1969
An Anthology of New York Poets (co-editor)—Random House, 1970
A Man Holding an Acoustic Panel—E P Dutton, 1971 (National Book Award Nominee)
The Page Turner—Liveright, 1973
Lateness: A Book of Poems—Overlook/Viking, 1977
Introduction to John Ashbery’s Poetry—Columbia University Press, 1979
The Writings of Sonia and Robert Delaunay (co-translator)—Viking, 1979
Jim Dine—Abrams, 1981; Alecta Press (German edition and translation)
Lateness (Watercolors by Lucio Pozzi)—Generations Press, Paris, 1981
To An Idea—Overlook/Viking, 1984
Jasper Johns—Abrams, 1984
House (Blown Apart): A Book of Poems—Overlook/Viking, 1988
Mondrian: Flowers—Abrams, 1991
The Selected Poems of Jacques Dupin (co-translator)—Wake Forest, 1992
The Eight Names of Picasso (co-translator)—Gas Station Editions, 1992
After A Lost Original (etching by Terry Winters)—Solo Press, 1992
The Green Lake is Awake: The Selected Poems of Joseph Ceravolo (co-editor)—CoffeeHouse Press, 1994
After A Lost Original—Overlook Press, 1994
Body of Prayer (Shapiro, Govrin, Derrida)—Cooper Union Press, 1998
A Burning Interior—Overlook Press, 2002
Rabbit Duck (Collaborative with Richard Hell) — Repair, 2005
New and Selected Poems (1965—2006)—Overlook Press, 2007
Shapiro has won National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, been nominated for a National Book Award, and been the recipient of numerous grants for his work.
List of fellowships, honors, awards and grants
Gotham Book Mart Avant-Garde Poetry Award—1962
Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Robert Frost Fellow—1965
Merrill Foundation, Grant—1967
Book of the Month Club Writing Award—1968
Clare College, Cambridge University—Kellett Fellowship, Awarded by Columbia College—1968—1970
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship—1970
Clare College, Cambridge University—First Honors, Book Prize, Scholar—1970
Columbia University, NDEA Grant—1970—1971
National Book Award, Nominated—1971
Creative Artists Public Service Grant—1973
Council for the Humanities, Grants—1973, 1976, 1978
Columbia University, Chamberlain Fellowship—1976
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Zabel Prize—1977
National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship—1979—1980
National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Writing—1980
Princeton University, Faculty Fellow—1985—1986
National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellow, USCS at Santa Cruz—1987
Asia Society Colophon Award—1998
Graham Foundation Grant—1990
The America Awards for Literature, Belles Lettres—The Green Lake is Awake: Selected Poems of Joseph Ceravolo (Co-Editor)—1994
Fund for Poetry—1995
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, 1996
Thomas Fink, The Poetry of David Shapiro, Farleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison & Teaneck, NJ, 1993; ISBN 0838634958
Thomas Fink & Joseph Lease, Burning Interiors: David Shapiro’s Poetry and Poetics, Farleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison & Teaneck, NJ, 2007; ISBN 978-0-8386-4155-2. Includes essays by Paul Hoover, Joanna Fuhrman, Stephen Paul Miller, Denise Duhamel, Noah Eli Gordon, Ron Silliman, Tim Peterson, Timothy Liu, more.
New York Quarterly, Issue 65, has an extensive interview with David Shapiro.