Jack Elliott Myers
| Jack Elliott Myers | |
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Jack Myers reading
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| Born |
November 29, 1941 Lynn, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | November 23, 2009 (aged 67) |
| Occupation | Poet, professor, editor, writer |
| Literary movement | New American Poets Modernism |
| Notable works | As Long As You're Happy |
Jack Elliott Myers (November 29, 1941 – November 23, 2009), was an American poet and educator. He was Texas Poet Laureate in 2003, and served on the faculty of Southern Methodist University in Dallas for more than 30 years. He was director of creative writing at SMU from 2001 through 2009. Myers co-founded The Writer's Garret, a nonprofit literary center in Dallas, with his wife, Thea Temple. He published numerous books of and about poetry, and served as a mentor for aspiring writers at SMU and as part of the writers' community and mentoring project of The Writer's Garret.
Jack Myers was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Jewish parents Alvin G. and Ruth L. Myers, and developed an interest in writing and poetry at a young age. In his twenties he worked many odd jobs to support his self-directed study of poetry.
In 1968 Jack Myers married his first wife, Nancy Leppert, and a year later they had their first son. Myers earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970. After finishing his degree, he moved his family to Iowa where he was accepted into the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop. He became friends with his professor, Dick Hugo, whom he later honored with the Festschrift, A Trout in the Milk: A Composite Portrait of Richard Hugo, in 1980.
His second son was born in Iowa in 1972.
After obtaining his Master of Fine Arts in Poetry Writing, Myers moved his family to Dallas in 1975 when he was hired as an Assistant Professor of English at Southern Methodist University.
In 1981 Myers became a "Field Faculty" member of Vermont College, and in June of that year married his second wife, Willa Robins. This union produced two children.
In 1981 he also became the Program Chair of SMU's English Department and served on many committees. During this time he wrote hundreds of poems; edited anthologies; and published The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms, a chapbook, and two collections of poetry. One of these, As Long As You're Happy, won the 1985 National Poetry Series (selected by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney).
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