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| Michael Horovitz (via) | |
Poet and editor Michael Horovitz, who "championed poetry as a vital and democratic force that needed liberating from the academic world and the printed page," died July 7, the Guardian reported. He was 86. Horovitz wrote 12 books of poetry, but is best known for his editorship of New Departures, a small poetry magazine he co-founded with Anna Lovell and David Sladen in 1959.
"Tired with the parochialism of British literary culture of the time, in which T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden dictated taste, Horovitz embraced the transnational avant-garde. The first issue of New Departures began with William Burroughs and ended with Samuel Beckett, setting the magazine’s tone for the next three decades. Contributors included Jack Kerouac and Ted Hughes, and there were illustrations by David Hockney," the Guardian wrote.
Beginning in the early '60s, Horovitz and Pete Brown, the poet and Cream lyricist, toured the U.K. with Live New Departures, a series of poetry, folk and jazz happenings where interaction between artist and audience was central. The Guardian wrote that although he was often associated with the Beat generation, Horovitz's influence "extended far beyond the countercultural scene."
In 1969, he edited Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain, which featured more than 60 poets. His other works include four volumes of the Poetry Olympics and his last publication, A New Waste Land: Timeship Earth at Nillennium (2007), "a jeremiad on the state of the nation, and the state of the planet," the Guardian said.
Horovitz was appointed OBE In 2002, and in 2010 he unsuccessfully ran for the position of professor of poetry at Oxford, telling the Guardian: "I would hope to shake things up--not in a negative, destructive way but in a truly Shakespearean way, restoring the authority of poetry in one of the great centers of culture.... My hope with everything I do is to try and bring audiences and poetry together."
Into his mid-80s, Horovitz continued to give readings and performances, most recently with the artist Vanessa Vie, his long-term collaborator. Her book, Open Windows, Open Doors: Poems, Pictures, and Reflections (2020), was the final publication for New Departures press.