Snyder, Gary (1930-…), is an American poet whose works reflect his involvement with Zen Buddhism, his love of nature, and his interest in Indigenous (native) American traditions. He won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his collection Turtle Island (1974). The title is an Indigenous name for North America.
Gary Sherman Snyder was born on May 8, 1930, in San Francisco. During the 1950’s, he gained fame for his association with the Beat movement in American literature. Snyder studied East Asian languages at the University of California at Berkeley. From 1956 to 1968, he lived much of the time in Japan and studied Zen Buddhism. Snyder has traveled widely in Asia and also lived and worked in the mountains of California. Many of his poems reflect his sensitivity to California landscapes.
Snyder’s books of poetry include Riprap (1959), Myths and Texts (1960), The Back Country (1968), Regarding Wave (1970), Axe Handles (1983), Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996), and Danger on Peaks (2004). Collected Poems (2022), published by the Library of America, is a complete collection of Snyder’s poetry. His essays, many on ecology, were collected in Earth House Hold (1969) and Back on the Fire (2007). In 1986, Snyder joined the faculty of the English Department at the University of California, Davis. He retired from teaching in 2002, becoming a professor emeritus at the university.
