Henri Cole

Henri Cole (born May 9, 1956) is an American poet, who has published many collections of poetry and a memoir. His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic.

Biography Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, to an American father and French-Armenian mother, and raised in Virginia, United States. His father, a North Carolinian, enlisted in the service after graduating from high school and, while stationed in Marseille, met Cole's mother, who worked at the PX. Together they lived in Japan, Germany, Illinois, California, Nevada, Missouri and Virginia, where Cole attended public schools and the College of William and Mary. He has published twelve collections of poetry in English.

From 1982 until 1988 he was executive director of The Academy of American Poets. Since that time he has held many teaching positions and been artist-in-residence at various institutions, including Brandeis University, Columbia University, Davidson College, Harvard University, Ohio State University, Reed College, Smith College, The College of William and Mary, and Yale University. He has collaborated with the visual artists Jenny Holzer and Kiki Smith. And from 2010 to 2014, he was poetry editor of The New Republic. Cole currently teaches at Claremont McKenna College.

Books of poetry 2025: The Other Love, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2023: Gravity and Center (Selected Sonnets, 1994-2022), New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2023: Blizzard (German translation by Henning Ahrens), Munich: Hanser Verlag, Edition Lyrik Kabinett 2021: Der sichtbare Mensch, Ausgewählte Gedicht (German translation by Hans Raimund), Vienna: Löcker 2020: Blizzard, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2015: Nothing to Declare, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2015: Le Merle, Le Loup suivi de Toucher (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Le bruit du temps 2011: Touch, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2011: Terre Médiane (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Le bruit du temps 2010: Mirlo y Lobo (Spanish translation by Eduardo López Truco), Cantabria: Quálea Editorial 2010: Autoritratto con Gatti (Italian translation by Massimo Bacigalupo), Parma: Guanda Editore 2010: Pierce the Skin (Selected Poems, 1982-2007), New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2008: La Apariencia de la Cosas (Spanish translation by Eduardo López Truco), Cantabria: Quálea Editorial 2007: Blackbird and Wolf, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2005: Vingt-Deux Poèmes (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Yvon Lambert 2003: Middle Earth, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1998: The Visible Man, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1995: The Look of Things 1989: The Zoo Wheel of Knowledge 1986: The Marble Queen

Books of prose 2020: باريس الأورفيّة: السّياحة الأدبية في باريس (Orphic Paris, Arabic translation by Amani Lazar), United Arab Emirates: Rewayat Books 2018: Orphic Paris, New York, New York Review Books 2018: Paris-Orphée (French translation by Claire Malroux), Paris: Le bruit du temps

Awards and honors 2026 — National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist in Poetry for The Other Love 2021 — James Merrill House, Writer-in-Residence 2017 — American Academy of Arts and Letters, Elected Member 2016 — American Academy of Arts and Letters, Award of Merit Medal in Poetry 2014 — Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, Fellow 2012 — The Thom Gunn Award for Poetry for Touch, Publishing Triangle 2012 — The Jackson Poetry Prize, Poets & Writers 2011 — Harvard University Phi Beta Kappa poet 2011 — Los Angeles Times Book Award, Finalist in Poetry for Pierce the Skin (Selected Poems 1982-2007) 2010 — American Academy of Arts & Sciences, elected member 2009 — Sara Teasdale Award in Poetry, Wellesley College 2009 — National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship 2008 — Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Blackbird and Wolf, Academy of American Poets 2008 — Ambassador Book Award in Poetry for Blackbird and Wolf, English-Speaking Union of the United States 2008 — Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry for Blackbird and Wolf 2008 — Lambda Literary Award in Poetry for Blackbird and Wolf 2007 — United States Artists USA Hildreth/Williams Fellow, Literature 2004 — Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for Middle Earth 2004 — John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship 2004 — Award in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters 2004 — Pulitzer Prize, Finalist in Poetry for Middle Earth 2004 — Los Angeles Times Book Award, Finalist in Poetry for Middle Earth 2004 — Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry for Middle Earth 2001 — Japan-United States Friendship Commission, Creative Artist Fellowship 2000 — Berlin Prize, American Academy in Berlin 1995 — Rome Prize in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters 1993 — National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship 1989 — Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship 1989 — Camargo Foundation Fellowship 1985 — Ingram Merrill Foundation Award (also 1990)

Personal life Cole is openly gay, though in his early work he turned to "nature as a mask for writing about private feelings." He came out as he "felt a need to speak as a gay man, since until recently we were not encouraged by society to love one another, marry, and have children. So if I have an ethics, it is simply to be true, but never at the expense of original language."