I Never Told Anybody: Teaching Poetry Writing to Old People

A central figure of the New York School alongside Frank O'Hara and John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch (1925-2002) was born in Cincinnati and earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a PhD from Columbia University, where he taught for more than four decades. His many collections include The Art of Love (Vintage, 1975), One Train (Knopf, 1994), and New Addresses (Knopf, 2000). One Train received the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress. Koch also pioneered methods for teaching poetry to children, beginning with Wishes, Lies, and Dreams (Chelsea House, 1970). His honors included the Bollingen Prize, and in 1996 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.