W. S. Di Piero
Poet, essayist, translator, and educator
About W. S. Di Piero
Born 1945. W. S. Di Piero is an American translator, academic, university teacher, literary scholar, poet and essayist.
William Simone Di Piero is an American poet, translator, essayist, and educator. He has published ten collections of poetry and five collections of essays in addition to his translations. In 2012 Di Piero received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for his lifetime achievement; in making the award, Christian Wiman noted, "He’s a great poet whose work is just beginning to get the wide audience it deserves." In 1982, he joined Stanford University, where he is professor emeritus of English and on faculty in the prestigious Stegner Poetry Workshop . He is an art critic, and curated a photography exhibit of Jonathan Elderfield.
His work appeared in AGNI, Ploughshares, and Triquarterly.
He lives in San Francisco.
Awards 2012 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for lifetime achievement. 2008 California Book Award. Gold medal for Chinese Apples: New and Selected Poems. 1996 Academy of American Poets Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award. Book prize for This Strange Joy: Selected Poems of Sandro Penna. 1985 Guggenheim Fellowship. Ingram Merrill Fellowship. National Endowment for the Arts grant.
Works
Poetry collections The Complaints. Carnegie Mellon University Press; February 15, 2019 The Man on the Water. MadHat Press; December 15, 2016
Country of Survivors: Poems. Eric B. Rasmussen Publishing. 1974.
Journal contributions
Translations
Essays Fat: New and Uncollected Prose. Carnegie Mellon University Press; November 7, 2020 City Dog, Northwestern University Press, 2009.
Anthologies
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Important facts
People in W. S. Di Piero's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who is W. S. Di Piero?
Poet, essayist, translator, and educator
When was W. S. Di Piero born?
W. S. Di Piero was born on 3 December 1945 in South Philadelphia.
What is W. S. Di Piero's occupation?
W. S. Di Piero is a translator, academic, university teacher, literary scholar, poet and essayist.
What nationality is W. S. Di Piero?
W. S. Di Piero is American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). W. S. Di Piero. https://biography.guide/w-s-di-piero/
MLA: "W. S. Di Piero." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/w-s-di-piero/.
Chicago: "W. S. Di Piero." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/w-s-di-piero/.
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