John Knoepfle

John Ignatius Knoepfle (February 4, 1923 – November 16, 2019) was an American poet, translator, and educator, principally at Sangamon State University, who is credited with helping to revive Midwestern poetry in the 1960s. He also served in the United States Navy during World War II and participated in the civil rights and antiwar movements.

Early life Knoepfle was born in Cincinnati on February 4, 1923, as the youngest of four brothers in a Swiss-Irish Catholic family.

Military service Knoepfle had begun his first year studying English at Xavier University when the United States entered World War II. He continued studying at Xavier under the V-12 Navy College Training Program, then enlisted on December 12, 1942. He took classes at Dartmouth College while undergoing basic training. He worked as a producer and director at the public television station WCET in Cincinnati from 1954 to 1955. He received a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in 1967. He served as director of creative writing at Saint Louis University from 1966 to 1972 and as professor of literature at Sangamon State University from 1972 to 1991. They lived in Auburn, Illinois, for 30 years, then moved in 2002 to Springfield, where he died on November 16, 2019.

Published works Knoepfle published more than 25 books over his 50-year career, including Rivers Into Islands (1965), Poems from the Sangamon (1985), and Begging An Amnesty (1994). From 1954 to 1960, Knoepfle recorded "The Knoepfle Collection", a series of 50 hourlong interviews of steamboat men along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

With Wang Shouyi, Knoepfle translated Chinese poetry from the Tang and Song dynasties into English; these translations also circulated within China.

Awards Knoepfle received many awards for his writing, including:

Mark Twain Award for Distinguished Contributions to Midwestern Literature (1986), Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature at Michigan State University Illinois Writer of the Year (1986), Illinois Association of Teachers of English Literary Heritage Award (1995), Illinois Center for the Book Doctor of Humane Letters (1996), Maryville University Doctor of Humane Letters (1999), Springfield College in Illinois WILL Award Signaling Excellence in the Arts (2002), University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign President's Award for Exemplary Achievement in the Literary Arts (2004), Poets and Writers Literary Forum, Springfield