Professor Nominated for Poetry Award

UC Berkeley English professor and poet Robert Hass was announced as one of five finalists for the National Book Award for Poetry last week, adding to a list of accolades that includes former U.S. Poet Laureate.

The National Book Foundation chose Hass’ “Time and Materials,” a collection of the writer’s work spanning the last decade and covering a wide range of subjects.

“Some are political, some are personal, others are about the natural world, about painting, about men and women,” Hass said.

As a finalist, Hass received $1,000 and a bronze medal. If he is selected as the winner he will receive $10,000 and a bronze statue. In addition to the poetry award, finalists were announced last Wednesday in the fiction, non-fiction and young people’s literature categories.

Hass was previously chosen as a finalist in 1996 for his book of poems “Sun Under Wood.” He has received two National Book Critics Circle Awards and currently serves as chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Raised in Marin County, California, Hass said his poems are greatly influenced by local traditions and poets. As a boy he grew up idolizing some of the poets of the Beat Movement, which took root in San Francisco’s North Beach in the post-World War II years.

“I was in grammar school at the time, I was very aware of the Beat Movement.” Hass said. “I knew that something very exciting was happening.”

He cited beat poets such as Gary Snyder and Kenneth Rexroth as important influences in his work.

As Poet Laureate, Hass organized a conference in Washington in 1996 called Watershed, bringing together scholars of American environmental literature and other environmental activists.

“I did a lot of work on the connection between environmental literature and nature and place,” Hass said.

The poet also has a wide range of academic interests, teaching courses in the department of Environmental Science and Policy Management on environmental literature, in addition to journalism and creative writing classes.

“One of the things I love about Berkeley, besides the students, is that I get to do a lot of different things associated with my interests,” he said.

Also committed to environmental activism, Hass serves on the board of the International Rivers Network, which deals with dam and watershed preservation in the third world.

Hass founded a children’s environmental program called “River of Words,” which encourages elementary and high school kids to write poems about their local environment.

“I’m just proud of being able to get (my) work finished,” he said.

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