Ben Downing (born April 17, 1967) is an American writer, editor, and teacher. Specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British social life and literature (with a particular emphasis on travel writing), he has written essays, articles, and reviews on figures such as Robert Louis Stevenson,[1] Duff Cooper,[2] Robert Byron,[3] Anthony Powell,[4] Peter Fleming,[5] Wilfred Thesiger,[6] and Patrick Leigh Fermor.[7] His biography of Janet Ross, who for many years was the doyenne of Florence’s Anglo-American colony, was published in 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.[8]

Downing also writes poetry. His collection The Calligraphy Shop appeared in 2003, and he continues to publish poems in The Atlantic,[9] The New Criterion,[10] The Yale Review,[11] and elsewhere.

Since 1993 Downing has worked at Parnassus: Poetry in Review, of which he is currently the co-editor.[12] He has taught literary seminars and workshops at Columbia,[8] Bryn Mawr,[13] and the 92nd St. Y,[14] and he currently teaches a small private class, known as The English Salon, for advanced non-native speakers of English. He lives in New York City and graduated from Harvard University.[15]

Works

Books

  • Queen Bee of Tuscany: The Redoubtable Janet Ross (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), biography
  • The Calligraphy Shop (Zoo Press, 2003), poetry

Poems

Articles

References

  1. ↑ "An Old Gypsy Nature," The New Criterion, June 1998
  2. ↑ "Duff Cooper's Game Book," The New Criterion, March 2006
  3. ↑ "Insolent Humanism," The New Criterion, March 2004
  4. ↑ "Of Osberts and Evelyns," The New Criterion, May 2001
  5. ↑ "Peter Fleming at 100," The New Criterion, May 2007
  6. ↑ ""On the Outlandish Life of Wilfred Thesiger," The New Criterion, November 2006". Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  7. ↑ "Philhellene's Progress: Patrick Leigh Fermor," The New Criterion, January 2001
  8. 1 2 Author page, Irene Skolnick Literary Agency
  9. ↑ Author page at The Atlantic
  10. ↑ Author page at The New Criterion
  11. ↑ "Contributors page at The Yale Review". Archived from the original on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  12. ↑ Staff at Parnassus: Poetry in Review
  13. ↑ "Classes at Bryn Mawr". Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  14. ↑ Classes at the 92nd St. Y
  15. ↑ "Ben Downing | Poetry Foundation".
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