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Forrest Gander, a writer and translator with degrees in geology and literature, was born in the Mojave Desert, grew up in Virginia, and taught at Harvard and, for many years, Brown University.
Among Gander’s most recent books are Be With, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize, the novel The Trace, and Eiko & Koma. Gander’s recent translations include Alice Iris Red Horse: Poems by Gozo Yoshimasu and, with Patricio Ferrari, The Galloping Hour: French Poems of Alejandra Pizarnik.
He has a history of collaborating with artists such as Ann Hamilton, Sally Mann, Graciela Iturbide, and Vic Chesnutt. The recipient of grants from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim, Howard, Whiting and United States Artists Foundations, Gander lives in northern California.
[…] Forrest Gander spoke to Praxis in early October when he had just handed in a manuscript to his editor for a book primarily about lichen. Working from a biological theory that lichen doesn’t die, and with the knowledge that this organism changes its individual properties to combine with others, Gander uses lichen as a metaphor for intimacy. Working alongside an artist, Gander has been examining ancient trees and the lichen thereon. While the trees themselves live out their lives and die, the lichen carries on. Gander is the winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize. To hear more about his work, including live readings of some of his poetry, listen to the complete interview. […]