Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966) was born and raised in Brooklyn. One of America’s greatest poets and short-story writers, Schwartz contributed “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” to the first issue of Partisan Review in 1937. Schwartz taught at Syracuse, Princeton, and Kenyon College, and received the Bollingen Prize in 1959. After a difficult period of alchoholism and depression, he died of a heart attack in 1966.
James Atlas is the president of Atlas&Co. and founder of the Penguin Lives series. His numerous books include Bellow: A Biography, Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet and the memoir My Life in the Middle Ages. He lives in New York City.
Irving Howe was a literary and social critic, as well as a prominent member in the Democratic Socialists of America party.
Lou Reed’s (b. 1942) most recent releases include Romanticism, a collection of photographs, and Lou Reed’s Berlin, the Julian Schnabel-filmed record of a multi-media performance of Reed’s iconic 1973 album. The guitarist and principal songwriter for The Velvet Underground, he has enjoyed a long and successful solo career. His book of photographs, New York, was published in 2008.

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