Joseph Langland

Born in Spring Grove, Minnesota, Joseph Langland (1917 – 2007) was raised in Northeastern Iowa on the family farm. Langland received both a bachelor’s degree (1940) and a master’s degree (1941) from the University of Iowa. He served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman during World War II. His first collection of poems For Harold (1945) was written for his younger brother who was killed in action in the Philippines.

After the war, Langland taught part-time at the University of Iowa and then joined the faculty of University of Wyoming, teaching there from 1948 to 1959. He then moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he founded the MFA Program for Poets & Writers. He was a faculty member at UMass from 1959–1979 and a professor emeritus from 1979 until his death in 2007.

His work appeared in Massachusetts Review, Paris Review, The Nation, and The New Yorker.

NPS Winners by Year

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Paz Prize for Poetry Robert Fagles Translation Prize

Authors