Richard Berengarten | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1943 (age 80–81) London, England |
| Pen name | Richard Burns; Li Dao (李道) |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge; University College London |
| Years active | 1961 to present |
| Notable works | Changing, Notness, The Blue Butterfly, Under Balkan Light, Black Light, Tree, The Manager |
| Notable awards | Eric Gregory Award, Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize, Morava Charter Prize, Yeats Club Prize, Keats Memorial Prize, Xu Zhimo Silver Willow Prize, Arts Council Writer’s Award |
| Spouse | Melanie Rein |
| Relatives | Alexander Berengarten, aka Burns (father), Lara Burns (daughter), Gully Burns (son), Arijana Mišić-Burns (daughter) |
Richard Berengarten (born 4 June 1943) is an English poet. Having lived in Italy, Greece, the US and the former Yugoslavia, his perspectives as a poet combine English, French, Mediterranean, Jewish, Slavic, American and Oriental influences. His poems explore historical and political material, inner worlds and their archetypal resonances, and relationships and everyday life. His work is marked by its multicultural frames of reference, depth of themes, and variety of forms.[1] In the 1970s, he founded and ran the international Cambridge Poetry Festival.[2] He has been an important presence in contemporary poetry for the past 40 years, and his work has been translated into more than 90 languages.[3]
Berengarten has been a crucial presence in contemporary poetry for over forty years – not only as poet but also as translator, critic and driving force behind the legendary Cambridge Poetry Festival – and his poetry has been translated into more than ninety languages.