Louise Glück named Frederick Iseman Professor in the Practice of Poetry

Louise Glück, an acclaimed poet whose voice has shaped the literary landscape for decades, and the recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, was recently appointed the Frederick Iseman Professor in the Practice of Poetry, effective immediately.

She is a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) in the Department of English.

Glück is the author of 13 books of poetry, including “Faithful and Virtuous Night” (2014), which won the 2014 National Book Award in Poetry; “Averno” (2006); “Vita Nova” (1999), winner of the Boston Book Review’s Bingham Poetry Prize and The New Yorker’s Book Award in Poetry; and “Poems 1962-2012” (2012), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; as well as two essay collections, including “American Originality” (2017).

She was awarded 2020 Nobel Prize in literature, recognizing “her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.” Prior to her Nobel Prize, Glück had received dozens of accolades and honors: she was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2003 to 2004, and was the recipient of the National Humanities Medal in 2016, the Gold Medal in Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2015, the P.E.N Winship Award in 2007, the Bollinger Prize in 2001, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, among other honors. She holds honorary degrees from Williams College, Skidmore College, and Middlebury College, as well as the MIT Anniversary Medal. She is also an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Glück joined the Yale faculty in 2004. She teaches courses in verse writing to Yale College students, and has for many years served as the judge of the Yale Younger Poets Prize. She is a devoted teacher who practices a deeply engaged approach to pedagogy, mentoring and nurturing the creative aspirations of Yale students, and never shies away from providing incisive feedback when warranted. Her students describe her as a committed mentor, and her colleagues admire the way that teaching is part of her poetic practice.

The Iseman Professorship is intended to recognize an acclaimed living poet and to support the teaching of poetry at Yale. Said Tamar Szabó Gendler, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences: “There is no one more deserving of this professorship than Louise Glück: a poet of astonishing skill and sensitivity, she is renowned among her peers, admired by her colleagues, beloved by her students, and a transformative presence at Yale.”