John Ash (writer)
Encyclopedia
John Ash is an expatriate
British
poet
and writer
.
His lifelong interest in Byzantium
(especially its architecture
) is a major theme which runs through his poetry, fiction and travel writing
, along with family friends and the three major cities he has lived in. As well as his books (largely published by Carcanet), his work has appeared in The New Yorker
, The New York Times
, The Village Voice
, The Washington Post
and Paris Review
.
, England
in 1948, the son of schoolteachers. With a brief break to attend the University of Birmingham
(B.A. 1969) and to take a post-graduation year in Cyprus, he remained in the city of his birth until 1985, at which time he moved to New York
.
In New York, he became associated with the New York School
of poets and formed a strong and lasting friendship with its leading proponent, John Ashbery
. After stints teaching at the University of Iowa
and the University of California, Berkeley
, he moved to Istanbul
in 1996, where he has lived since, first teaching at Boğaziçi University
, before moving to Kadir Has University
.
During this time several of his books, including Selected Works and To the City, have appeared in Turkish translations, published by Yapi Kredi Publications
, who are affiliated with the bank of the same name. Deluxe editions of The Anitolikon, published in a side-by-side English and Turkish edition by Yapi Kredi, featured illustrations by Peter Hristoff, a noted Turkish artist of Bulgarian Christian origin living in New York.
In a review of To The City, Poetry Magazine said that John Ash "could be the best English poet of his generation". In 2007 he was profiled in The Economist
in an article by Hugh Pope
, himself an author and formerly the Wall Street Journal correspondent in Istanbul. Pope has suggested that Ash is the leading light in a new "Istanbul School" of English-speaking poets taking their inspiration from the city.
Following Byzantine Journey, and other travel writing, Ash led tours the relevant sites and in 2006 wrote the script for the documentary "Istanbul for Aficionados". He has also appeared in a BBC
guide to Istanbul, broadcast in 2005 on BBC Four's "Mediterranean Tales" strand.
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
His lifelong interest in Byzantium
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(especially its architecture
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
) is a major theme which runs through his poetry, fiction and travel writing
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
, along with family friends and the three major cities he has lived in. As well as his books (largely published by Carcanet), his work has appeared in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and Paris Review
Paris Review
The Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
.
Life
John Ash was born in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1948, the son of schoolteachers. With a brief break to attend the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
(B.A. 1969) and to take a post-graduation year in Cyprus, he remained in the city of his birth until 1985, at which time he moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
In New York, he became associated with the New York School
New York School
The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in New York City...
of poets and formed a strong and lasting friendship with its leading proponent, John Ashbery
John Ashbery
John Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
. After stints teaching at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
and the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, he moved to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
in 1996, where he has lived since, first teaching at Boğaziçi University
Bogaziçi University
Boğaziçi University is a public university located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, Turkey. It has five faculties and two schools offering undergraduate degrees, and six institutes offering graduate degrees...
, before moving to Kadir Has University
Kadir Has University
Kadir Has University ' or as mostly preferred by its students ', was founded in 1997, in Istanbul. A private university, it has seven faculties, Engineering, Sciences and Humanities, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Communication, Law and Fine Arts, as well as its several vocational schools,...
.
During this time several of his books, including Selected Works and To the City, have appeared in Turkish translations, published by Yapi Kredi Publications
Yapi Kredi Publications
Yapi Kredi Publications is one of the biggest publishing houses in Turkey. Based in Istanbul and active since 1992, it has published nearly 2500 titles in philosophy, literature, the arts, and children's books....
, who are affiliated with the bank of the same name. Deluxe editions of The Anitolikon, published in a side-by-side English and Turkish edition by Yapi Kredi, featured illustrations by Peter Hristoff, a noted Turkish artist of Bulgarian Christian origin living in New York.
In a review of To The City, Poetry Magazine said that John Ash "could be the best English poet of his generation". In 2007 he was profiled in The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
in an article by Hugh Pope
Hugh Pope
Henry Vincent Pope, better known as Fr. Hugh Pope , was a Dominican biblical scholar, Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegium Angelicum in Rome.-Life:...
, himself an author and formerly the Wall Street Journal correspondent in Istanbul. Pope has suggested that Ash is the leading light in a new "Istanbul School" of English-speaking poets taking their inspiration from the city.
Following Byzantine Journey, and other travel writing, Ash led tours the relevant sites and in 2006 wrote the script for the documentary "Istanbul for Aficionados". He has also appeared in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
guide to Istanbul, broadcast in 2005 on BBC Four's "Mediterranean Tales" strand.
Poetry
- The Parthian Stations (2007, ISBN 1-85754-872-8)
- To the City (2004, ISBN 1-58498-037-0)
- The Anatolikon (2002, ISBN 1-58498-011-7)
- Selected Poems (1996, ISBN 1-85754-155-3)
- The Burnt Pages (1991, ISBN 0-679-40175-X)
- Disbelief (1987, ISBN 0-85635-695-6)
- The Branching Stairs (1984, ISBN 0-85635-501-1)
- The Goodbyes (1982, ISBN 0-85635-423-6)
- The Bed (1981)
- Casino: A Poem in Three Parts (1978)
Articles
- Field of Ruins in the Sand The New York Times, 1999, on SergiopolisResafaResafa , known in Roman times as Sergiopolis, was a city located in what is now modern-day Syria. It is an archaeological site situated south-west of the city of Ar Raqqah and the Euphrates.-History:...
- The Lost Heads of Balbura, The New York Times
- Celebration Istanbul New York Times Magazine, 2001
- Death by Drowning, The New York Times, 2002, on YusufeliYusufeliYusufeli is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the bank of Çoruh River 104 km south-west of the city of Artvin, on the road to Erzurum....
- Istanbul's Glitter Domes The New York Times
- Bulgaria's Venerable Second City The New York Times, 2004, on PlovdivPlovdivPlovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
- Review: On the Edge, by Kenneth KochKenneth KochKenneth Koch was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77...
, The New York Times - Review: Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, by Philip ManselPhilip ManselPhilip Mansel is a British historian and the author of a number of books about revolutionary and post-revolutionary France and the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire...
, The Washington Post
Anthologies
His work has also appeared in a number of anthologies, including:- The Best American Poetry series:
- The Best American Poetry 1988The Best American Poetry 1988The Best American Poetry 1988, the first volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor John Ashbery, who chose one of his own poems among the group of 75.-Lehman's forward:...
(1988) - The Best American Poetry 1990The Best American Poetry 1990The Best American Poetry 1990, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Jorie Graham. The book contains seventy-five poems with a range of poet-authors from a college freshman to the 1990 United States Poet Laureate...
(1990) - The Best American Poetry 1991The Best American Poetry 1991The Best American Poetry 1991, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Mark Strand.-Poets and poems included:-Most-represented publications in this volume:...
(1991) - The Best American Poetry 1992The Best American Poetry 1992The Best American Poetry 1992, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Charles Simic....
(1992)
- The Best American Poetry 1988
- The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in EnglishThe Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in EnglishThe Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English is a poetry anthology edited by Michael Schmidt, and published in 1999. Schmidt is an American academic and long-term UK resident, who is the founder of Carcanet Press; he has also written extensive biographical books about poets.A paperback...
(1999) - New British PoetryNew British Poetry (2004)New British Poetry is a 2004 poetry anthology edited by Scots poet Don Paterson and American poet Charles Simic.In his preface, Simic wrote: "To make it as current as possible, Don Paterson and I decided to include only poets born after 1945 who have had at least two books published...
(2004)
External links
- Carcanet profile
- Ash's poem "The Middle Kingdom", "The Sweeping Gesture" and an overview from The North no. 8 (1990)
- Review of The Parthian Stations in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...