“Every afternoon, I shut the door of my bedroom to write: Poetry was secret, dangerous, wicked and delicious.”

American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic

Donald Hall was an American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. Born in 1928, he became a major figure in American letters and died in 2018. He is known for his wide-ranging work and for helping shape literary culture through editing and criticism. He wrote more than 50 books in several genres, including children’s literature, biography, memoir, essays, plays, sports journalism, and fifteen volumes of poetry. Early in his career, he was the first poetry editor of The Paris Review from 1953 to 1961, where he also became known for interviewing poets and other writers about their craft.