Marvin Bell Biography

Welcome Back To The Blog!!!! ☎⌛⌚

Marvin Hartley Bell is an American poet and teacher who was the first Poet Laureate,honored person, of the state of Iowa. Marvin bell was born August 3, 1937 in New York City but was raised in Center Moriches, Long Island. As a young boy Marvin, played soccer,baseball, and basketball. He was also a ham (amateur) radio operator and played in a trumpet in a jazz group. Some of his earliest work started while he was in high school. He wrote about school events for the local weekly newspaper. After high school, Bell attended Alfred University in Upstate New York. There he worked for the yearbook, local newspaper, and became interested in ceramics and photography. After graduation from Alfred, Bell enrolled in the graduate journalism school at Syracuse University, where he met Mary Mammosser, who became his first wife. They would divorce a few years later. He married his second wife, Dorothy Murphy in 1961 and they had two children, Nathan and Jason. He earned his bachelor's degree from Alfred University, his master's degree from the University of Chicago, and an MFA, Master Of Fine Arts Degree, from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Bell taught at The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop for forty years before retiring in 2005. Through his time as poet and teacher, Bell was the author of 20 books of poetry, including his most famous, The Book Of The Dead Man. Over his long career "Bell edited and published the literary magazine, Statements, from 1959 to 1964-edited poetry for the reborn North American Review from 1964 to 1969 and The Iowa Review from 1969 to 1971-designed, and for five years led, a summer program for selected teachers from the urban public school program, American Scores. He also edited the New Poets/Short Books series published by the literary publisher, Lost Horse Press ,for five years". Bell currently serves on the faculty of the Masters Of Fine Arts in the writing program at Pacific University. Some of his many achievements include Iowa's first Poet Laureate, Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets, as well as many more. Bell is one of the greatest poets of our time. Bell now resides in Iowa City, Iowa, where he lives life peacefully.