Anania, Michael. Papers, circa 1950s-2006

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Literature and Poetry

Series VII, Audio-Visual, does not include access copies for part or all of the material in this series. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting material from this series. Select material reformatted – for access SEE Audio-Visual Reformatted Collection.

Series VIII, Restricted, contains financial and student material. Folders 6, 10, and 11 are restricted until 2081 and all other folders restricted until 2049.

The remainder of the collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Anania, Michael. Papers, [Box#, Folder#], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Michael Anania was born on August 5, 1939 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Dora, was born in Germany and his father, Angelo, was born in Omaha to Italian parents. Angelo died of tuberculosis when Anania was nine years old, and his memories of and interest in his father appears throughout his poetry and writing. In December 1960, Anania married Joanne Oliver and they had one child, Francesca.

Anania attended inner-city schools in Omaha and went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts from the Municipal University of Omaha (now the University of Nebraska-Omaha) in 1961. While an undergraduate, he edited the campus literary magazine and wrote poetry, plays, and stories, often influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and existentialism. Anania was a Fellow in English and American Literature and worked toward a Ph.D. from State University of New York – Albany, where he wrote his dissertation on William Carlos Williams. He was an instructor of English at SUNY Buffalo in 1964, SUNY Fredonia from 1964-1965, and Northwestern University from 1965-1968. He was a professor of English at University of Illinois – Chicago from 1968-2003, director of the Graduate Program for Writers, and also visiting professor at Northwestern University and University of Chicago. He taught courses in creative writing, poetry, English literature, American literature, fiction, drama, and literary criticism.

Two of Anania’s early influences were William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens. Throughout his career, he established relationships with and was influenced by other renowned poets, including Karl Shapiro, whom he met while at the Municipal University of Omaha. While at Buffalo, he met and worked with Albert Cook, Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Gregory Corso, Ed Dorn, Leroi Jones, Diane Wakowski, Leslie Fiedler, and Hugh Kenner. At a Poetry event Anania met W.H. Auden, who helped foster Anania’s appreciation for English poetry.

Anania wrote or edited over twenty books, mainly poetry, including The Color of Dust (1970), Riversongs (1978), The Sky at Ashland (1986), In Plain Sight: Essays (1991), Selected Poems (1994), In Natural Light (1999), and Heat Lines (2006), plus a novel, The Red Menace (1984). His work also appears in many anthologies, including New Poetry Anthology (1969), Beowulf to the Beatles (1972), Chicago Works (1990), Smokestacks and Skyscrapers: An Anthology of Chicago Writing (1999), Illinois Voices (2001), Poems of the Sea and the Land (2004), and The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, as well as numerous periodicals such as Poetry, Tri-Quarterly, Partisan Review, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Columbia Review of the Arts, Vortex, and Literary Review.

Besides being a prolific writer, Anania held many editorial positions. He was poetry editor for Audit, a quarterly and Partisan Review, poetry and literary editor of The Swallow Press, contributing editor to Tri-Quarterly and VENUE, and on the boards of Wesleyan University Press, Prairie State Editions of the University of Illinois Press, Thunder’s Mouth Press, Encyclopedia of Chicago History, and Dalkey Archive Press.

In addition to teaching and writing, Anania involved himself in various professional and literary organizations, such as the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, National Endowment for the Arts, Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, Illinois Arts Council, Poetry Center of Chicago, Read Illinois Program, Illinois Center for the Book, and The Arts Club of Chicago. He served on panels for the Artists Foundation in Boston, Carl Sandburg Awards at the Chicago Public Library, Chicago Council on Fine Arts, Society of Midland Authors, The Fiction Collective, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Arts Councils of several states. He also participated in the Poetry-in-the-Schools and Artists-in-the-Schools Programs in the Chicago area, where he conducted workshops for teachers and taught poetry classes to elementary and secondary school students. Anania also served on committees for programs such as Writing in Chicago, Italian American History Project, The Great Chicago Poetry Reunion, White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services, and Illinois Literary Heritage Conferences.

Anania performed readings and did interviews for several audio and video series, such as Dialogue, Hadley School Audio Tape Series, Illinois Reads, Library of Congress, and Nobel Laureate Series, and radio stations including BBC, Oregon Public Radio, Radio Bremen, Radio Nord (Hamburg), and Western Iowa Public Radio. His poetry has also been set to the stage by the Reed College Dance Company, MoMing Dance Collection (Chicago), Nebraska State Historical Society, The Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, and the Organic Theatre (Chicago). He gave lectures at the University of Victoria, Modern Languages Association, University of Cincinnati Conference on Poetry Programs, Illinois Writers’ Incorporated Conference, Art Institute of Chicago, National Writers’ Congress, The Field Museum (Chicago), Illinois Humanities Festival, Book America Expo, and the Goethe Institute Colloquium on Translation. He also gave poetry and fiction readings at Aurora University, Amerika Haus (Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover), Arizona State University, Boston University, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Public Library, Library of Congress, National College of Education, New School for Social Thought, New York Public Library, Notre Dame University, Poetry Center of Chicago, Poetry Magazine, Smith College, University of Michigan, Vancouver Arts Center, and Yale University.

Anania received several awards for his writing, including the Friends of Literature Poetry Prize (1970), Roadstead Fellowship (1970-1972), Best Short Stories (1979), Pushcart Prize (1980), Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction (1980), five Arts Council Literary Awards (1974-1989), National Magazine Award (1981), IATE Author of the Year (1985), and the Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Paperback Novel (The Red Menace, 1994).

Anania remains involved in several organizations and continues to write.

The Michael Anania Papers are divided into eight series: Series I, Personal; Series II, Correspondence; Series III, Professional, Series IV, Manuscripts by Anania; Series V, Manuscripts and Publications by Others; Series VI, Newspaper Clippings, Publications and Oversize; Series VII, Audio-Visual; and Series VIII, Restricted. The Michael Anania Papers contain drafts, manuscripts, proofs, reviews, publications, unpublished writings, biographical material, college coursework, correspondence, ephemera, newspaper clippings, photographs, audio cassettes, compact discs, and video cassettes. The papers document Anania’s personal life, academic career, involvement in professional and literary organizations, and writing and editorial career.

Series I, Personal, contains biographical and personal material, Who’s Who, interviews, curriculum vitae, and newspaper articles. There are also notes and term papers from Anania’s college coursework, including those related to his dissertation on William Carlos Williams. There is also a small amount of photographs of Anania, Nelson Algren, and others.

Series II, Correspondence, contains letters between Anania and his colleagues, peers, friends, and a small amount from family. It is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the writer, with correspondence from Anania filed by last name of the recipient. The correspondence discusses authors, manuscripts and publications by Anania and others, and other business items relating to his role as editor of Swallow Press and other publications. Other topics include authors asking advice on their writing or publications, submission of manuscripts, events, and personal.

Frequent correspondents include David Bahr, Robert Bray, Charles Boer, Ed Colker, Albert Cook, Cyrus Coulter, Robert Dana, Charles Doria, William Ehrhart, Raymond Federman, Giovanna Fozzer, Reginald Gibbons, Mac Hammond, Roger Hecht, David Ignatow, John Jacob, Kenneth Koch, John Matthias, Tom McGrath, John McManus, James McMichael, R. Bruce McPherson, Peter Michelson, Jennifer Moyer, Charles Newman, Sterling Plumpp, James Ramholz, Natalie Robins, James Schevill, Dennis Schmitz, Wallis Scott, Ken Smith, Lucien Stryk, Ronald Sukenick, Robert Sward, and Chad Walsh. Others include Elliott Anderson, Robert Archambeau, Jeffrey Renard Allen, James Atlas, Russell Banks, Marvin Bell, James Bertolino, Robert Bonazzi, Gwendolyn Brooks, Betty Anne Clarke, Robert Creeley, Mary Mills Dunea, Maurice English, Christopher Fox, Vi Gale, Barbara Guest, Susan Grathwohl, Shelby Hearon, Anselm Hollo, Edwin Honig, Catherine Kasper, August Kleinzahler, John Knoepfle, Ralph Mills Jr., William Moebius, Ron Offen, Linda Pastan, William Phillips, William Rickman, Martin Robbins, Carola Sautter, Reginald Shepherd, Charles Simic, Al Stevens, Nathanial Tarn, Durrett Wagner, Diane Wakowski, Ralph Wardle and Richard Wentworth. See Series III and V for additional correspondence that has remained with the material with which it is directly associated.

Series III, Professional, contains material related to Anania’s roles as professor, editor, teacher, poet, speaker, panelist, and involvement in professional organizations. There is correspondence, brochures, fliers, announcements, invitations, book and poetry notices and catalogs, and other ephemera. Much of the correspondence includes requests for or acknowledgements of contributions to publications, speaking engagements, readings, and participation in panels and events. There are letters and other documents relating to the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, Illinois Center for the Book, Read Illinois, National Endowment for the Arts, literary festivals, and conferences. The academic papers include syllabi, course materials, and M.A. and Ph.D. exam questions. There is also material about awards Anania received and awards and honors given to others.

Series IV, Manuscripts by Anania, has drafts, notes, manuscripts, and proofs of Anania’s published works, poems, short stories, essays, talks, book reviews, and other writings arranged alphabetically by title. The untitled manuscripts are drafts of poems, short stories, and essays.

Series V, Manuscripts and Publications by Others, contains material Anania received from friends, students, peers, and colleagues. There are drafts, proofs, outlines, proposals, publications, reprints, broadsides, student papers, theses, dissertations, and other manuscript material, sometimes with inscriptions and notes from the authors. Some manuscripts were submitted for consideration to be published by Swallow Press, to receive professional or personal feedback from Anania, or as course requirements. There is some correspondence with the manuscripts. See Series II and III for additional correspondence.

Series VI, Newspaper Clippings, Publications and Oversize, has articles about events with Anania, reviews of his books, reviews he wrote and published, and other collected articles. The publications are a small amount of poetry newsletters and journals. The oversize material is primarily posters, broadsides, lectures, poems, proofs, conferences, and newspapers with articles about or by Anania.

Series VII, Audio-Visual, is restricted due to the condition of the material or need for special equipment. Select material reformatted – for access SEE Audio-Visual Reformatted Collection. It contains cassettes, CDs, and videos of various poetry events with Anania, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mac Hammond, and others, as well as interviews with Anania and his appearances on other radio programs, including interviews with Studs Terkel.

Series VIII, Restricted, contains financial and student material. Folders 6, 10, and 11 will not be open for research until 2081. All other folders will not be open for research until 2049.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• NamesAnania, Michael, 1939-
• Subject
  • American literature -- 20th century
  • American poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism
  • English poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism
  • Poetry