Baron Wormser

Baron Wormser
Wormser in 2021
Born(1948-02-04)February 4, 1948
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedOctober 7, 2025(2025-10-07) (aged 77)
Montpelier, Vermont, U.S.
EducationJohns Hopkins University
OccupationsPoet, essayist, novelist, critic, educator
Writing career
Notable worksImpenitent Notes, Carthage
Notable awardsFrederick Bock Prize from Poetry, Kathryn A. Morton Prize, Bread Loaf fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship
Websitebaronwormser.com

Baron Wormser (February 4, 1948 – October 7, 2025) was an American poet from Baltimore, Maryland.

Early life and career

Baron Wormser was born in Baltimore on February 4, 1948. He earned his BA from Johns Hopkins University, and later completed graduate studies at the University of California-Irvine and University of Maine. Wormser served as librarian for 25 years in Madison, Maine.

Wormser served as Poet Laureate of Maine from 2000 to 2006. In 2000, he was a writer in residence at the University of South Dakota. From 2002, he taught in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Maine-Farmington, and from 2009, Fairfield University.

He founded the Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching at The Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire and was later director of educational outreach at the Frost Place.

Garrison Keillor has read Wormser's poems on The Writer's Almanac.

Personal life and death

Wormser lived in Cabot and spent his final years in Montpelier, Vermont, with his wife, Janet. He died there on October 7, 2025, at the age of 77.

Awards

Works

Poetry

  • "The History Hotel," CavanKerry Press, 2023
  • "Unidentified Sighing Objects", CavanKerry Press, 2015
  • Impenitent Notes, CavanKerry Press, 2010
  • Scattered Chapters: New and Selected Poems, Sarabande Books, 2008
  • Carthage Illuminated Sea Press, 2005
  • Subject Matter Sarabande Books, 2004
  • Mulroney and Others Sarabande Books, 2000
  • When Sarabande Books, 1997
  • Atoms, Soul Music and Other Poems Paris Review Editions, 1989
  • Good Trembling, Houghton Mifflin, 1985
  • The White Words Houghton Mifflin, 1983

Prose

  • Some Months in 1968, a novel, Woodhall Press, 2022
  • Songs from a Voice: Being the Recollections, Stanzas, and Observations of Abe Runyan, Song Writer and Performer, Woodhall Press, 2019
  • Legends of the Slow Explosion: Eleven Modern Lives, Tupelo Press, 2018
  • Tom o'Vietnam: A Novel, New Rivers Press, 2017
  • Teach Us That Peace, Piscataqua Press, 2013
  • The Poetry Life: Ten Stories CavanKerry Press, 2008
  • The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's Memoir of Living Off the Grid, UPNE, 2006
  • A Surge of Language: Teaching Poetry Day by Day, co-author David Cappella, Heinemann, 2004
  • Teaching the Art of Poetry: The Moves, co-author David Cappella, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000

References

  1. ↑ "University of New England - Acclaimed New England poet Baron Wormser to read from his work April 22". Archived from the original on December 21, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Baron Wormser". Poetry Foundation. 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  3. ↑ "Maine". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  4. ↑ "Poet Laureate History". Maine Arts Commission. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 Bio, baronwormser.com. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  6. ↑ Aleshire, Benjamin (15 September 2021). "Baron Wormser's Latest Novel Invokes the Voice of a Young Bob Dylan". Seven Days. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ "The Frost Place Conference on Poetry & Teaching". Archived from the original on June 25, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  9. ↑ Martin, John. "The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor". The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  10. ↑ "Baron Wormser Biography - Biography of Baron Wormser". Poem Hunter. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Wormser | A Writing House". baronwormser.com. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  12. ↑ "Michael Simms: Baron Wormser (February 15, 1948 – October 7, 2025)". Vox Populi. 8 October 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  13. ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Baron Wormser". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  14. 1 2 Books, baronwormser.com. Retrieved 2016-05-15.