David R. Slavitt

David R. Slavitt was born in White Plains, NY in 1935 and is now absurdly old but still in good health. He has published 130 books--poetry, fiction, translations, and reportage. He was educated at Phillips Academy and Yale University, and he went on to earn an MA at Columbia. He worked at Newsweek for seven years (1958-1965) the last two of which he was the movie reviewer. In 1965 he left the magazine, moved to Cape Cod, and became a free-lance writer, a precarious calling but one he thought he could supplement by working as a bartender during the tourist season. His parents were alarmed at this and tried to reason with him: "You found a job where all you have to do is go to the movies, and this was too strenuous for you?" I replied by reassuring them that Yalies don't starve. (This is not always true, but I managed to survive and have done so now for more than half a century.). Pushing my luck? Maybe, but it has been good so far.