Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco on May 8, 1930. His first book, Riprap, published in 1959, has become a classic in American poetry, and he's gone on to publish more than a dozen collections of poetry and prose. Practice of the Wild is one of the most influential books about the environment of the last fifty years. His recently completed long poem, Mountains and Rivers Without End, is broadly recognized as one of the greatest long poems in American literature, and his last book of poems, Danger on Peaks, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He was awarded the Bollingen Prize for poetry in 1997. He also has the distinction of being the first American to receive the Buddhism Transmission Award from the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai Foundation.
"This Present Moment maintains Snyder's steadfast, wise witnessing
as he walks a Siberian Outpost meadow, gazes at clear–cut forest,
or considers changing farmland in Italy. Snyder's clearsightedness
and meditative voice, even in the face of struggle or destruction,
give the work much of its power."—Christian Science Monitor
"Snyder has parceled out the decade since his last poetry
collection (Danger on Peaks) into textured poems of a rare and
welcome candor."—Publisher's Weekly
"[E]ach of the moments of these poems is completely open, even
when, as in the long, particular poem about the death of Snyder's
late–life love, "Go Now," it resounds with deep personal emotion.
The moment of a Snyder poem is the "Eternal Now" of mindfulness and
awareness, a good place to be."—Booklist
"Snyder is an elder statesman of the natural world and the tribal
unions of poetry. He has a body of work as original as predecessors
William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens."—The Bloomsbury
Review
"His greatest strength—a quiet and profound elegance, an ability to
write a simple phrase that seems to have been echoing through human
consciousness for three or four thousand years."—Lewis MacAdams,
California Magazine
"This poet's great gift has always been perfect visual clarity . .
. and, needless to say, derives from Snyder's vision in the larger
sense."—Paul Berman, Village Voice
"What thoughtful beauty! How skillfully Gary Snyder interfuses the
practical knowledge of an animal sense with story, language, and
song. True teachers in America are now an endangered species. I
learn so much from this good man's perception, humor, discipline,
and love for this world."—James Hillman
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