- Born: January 1, 1928
- Birthplace: Detroit, MI
- Died: 1976
Louis Edward Sissman was a child prodigy who wrote poetry sporadically through his life, only writing seriously in his later years. As a child, he had an enormous vocabulary and love of facts. When he was 13, he won the National Spelling Bee. Two years later, in 1943, he became a Quiz Kid on national radio, and a year later he became the youngest person ever to be accepted to Harvard University. Not emotionally ready for college, he was expelled in 1946. He stayed on in Boston, working at the Boston Public Library and writing poetry. Readmitted to Harvard a year later, he graduated cum laude in 1949, the recipient of the Garrison Prize in poetry and elected class poet.
Over the next decade Sissman worked at a variety of odd jobs in New York, when he finally found his calling, working for an advertising company. At the same time, he began to write poetry again and in 1964 he compiled a collection entitled Homage to Cambridge.
In 1965 Sissman was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. With this news, his outlook on life – and the flavor of the poetry he wrote – were changed. He wrote more about family, home and death. He published his first book, Dying: An Introduction in 1968. He continued working, both as the Creative Vice President for an advertising firm in Boston and writing book reviews for The New Yorker and monthly columns for The Atlantic Weekly until 1974. Many of these columns were later published in a collection entitled Innocent Bystander: The Scene from the '70's. Sissman's final collection, Hello Darkness, was published in 1978, two years after his death. It made him the posthumous recipient of the National Book Critics' Circle Award.
Most Famous Works
- Hello Darkness (1978)
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FOR NOW, YOU WILL NOTICE THAT L.E. SISSMAN WAS IN FACT A POET, NOT A CRITIC OR SCHOLAR. ADD TO THAT FACT, SISSMAN HIMSELF PARTICIPATED IN GAME SHOWS.....(SEE BOLDED/RED TEXT ABOVE)
