Vince Clemente
2007 Poet of the Year
Vince Clemente, American poet, biographer, critic, editor, and professor of English was born on April 28, 1932. The son of an Italian-American fisherman and seamstress from New York City, Clemente was interested and inspired by local surroundings and artists – a subject matter of much of his poetry and scholarship. He received a BA in English (Honors) from St. Francis College of Brooklyn in 1953 and served in the US Army's 716 th Military Police Battalion from 1953 to 1955. Clemente earned his Master's Degree in English (Honors) from Columbia University and continued his graduate studies at Columbia from 1959 to 1960.
Clemente has written nine volumes of poetry: Under a Baleful Star, A Garland for Margaret Fuller (2006), Sweeter Than Vivaldi (2002), Watergaw Along the Thames (1999), A Place for Lost Children (1997), This Shining Place (1992), Girl in the Yellow Caboose (1991), Broadbill Off Conscience Bay (1982), Songs from Puccini (1978), and Snow Owl Above Stony Brook Harbor (1977). His poems and other writings have appeared in journals and newspapers including The New York Times, The Boston Book Review, Newsday, The South Carolina Review, Poets and Writers Magazine, Cumberland Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, VIA, and Italian-Americana, and in a selection of newspapers and other publications in the United Kingdom, including The Seventh Quarry: Swansea [Wales] Poetry Magazine. Also, his poems have been featured in anthologies, including Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust (1991), Island Light: A Long Island Anthology (1983), Remembering Walt Whitman: Centenary Celebration (1992), and Darwin: A Norton Critical Third Edition (2001).
In addition to his poetry, Clemente has authored four books: Remembering John Hall Wheelock: North Atlantic Review (1991), John Ciardi: Measure of the Man (1986), Paumanok Rising: Figures in a Landscape (1982), and From This Book of Praise: Conversation with William Heyen (1981). He served as the editor of North Atlantic Review, Long Island Historical Journal, West Hills Review: A Walt Whitman Journal, Long Pond Review , and Lyrismos (the latter three he founded). Clemente took pride in the legacy of Long Island authors and artists, and became a trustee of Whitman's Long Island birthplace, where he also founded the poet-in-residence program. He was also a leader in the movement to erect a memorial statue to author John Steinbeck in Sag Harbor, Long Island.
Clemente currently is English Professor Emeritus at SUNY Stony Brook, a lecturer and journalist, as well as author and poet. He is presently Consulting Editor, America, for The Seventh Quarry: Swansea [Wales] Poetry Magazine and a columnist for The Sag Harbor Express. From 1996–1998 he was a lecturer and writer at Richmond-On-Thames, England, and was visiting writer to a number of American institutions including CW Post College, Hofstra University, Dowling College, and several SUNY schools. Clemente has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including grants from the New York State Council of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is recipient of the first North Sea Scene Poetry Recognition Award.
