Darryl Mockridge

I have been writing almost continuously since I was 14 years old—and have been submitting my work for publications for nearly all of that time.

As for honors, I have only this: I sent Evergreen Review my first submission in (best guess) 1964. It was rejected. BUT, along with the rejection slip Editor, Barney Rosset included a brief handwritten note encouraging me to continue writing. Quite possibly there was not a single person on earth who needed that encouragement less. Forty-four years later, I discovered Evergreen Review again, on the internet. So, I sent them a copy of what I thought was my best stuff (Lambfield)… only to be rejected again. They told me it wasn't really their style. Of course I knew that going in.

While complaining about my own ineptitude to my wife, I whined, "I know what their style is", and she very wisely said, “Well, send them that then.” (This wasn’t the first time I’d been given sound advice by a woman somewhat distracted and wishing only to remain so.) So, I sat down and hammered out something in their style. It was about three evenings’ work. This, Editor-in-Chief Barney Rosset accepted.

The same man who had encouraged me to keep writing when I was a kid—still the first to read all submissions, and make final decisions about what was to see print in Evergreen Review—published my first piece, in his highly-esteemed publication, when I was 60 years old. That is the coolest thing that could ever happen to me as a writer. My work is in there amongst writers like; Samuel Beckett, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, LeRoi Jones, Susan Sontag, and Edward Albee. That fills me with a kind of pride.

Of course, my fear now is that if it’s another 44 years before I see print in Evergreen again, I'll be 106, and most likely will have lost all interest in anything that isn't called chocolate pudding.

Additionally, although I don't write plays any more, thirty-some years ago I wrote seven full-length plays--none of which ever saw production. However, even after all these years, I strongly believe that any one of those plays, properly folded, might still make an excellent doorstop.

Darryl Mockridge/Henry Edward Fool