# Anselm Hollo

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Finnish poet and translator (1934–2013)

Anselm Hollo Hollo during the making of Add-Verse, 2005 Born Paavo Anselm Aleksis Hollo 12 April 1934 Helsinki, Finland Died 29 January 2013(2013-01-29) (aged 78) Boulder, Colorado, U.S. Other name Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo Occupations Poet and translator Spouses Josephine Clare Jane Dalrymple Children 3 Father Juho August Hollo Relatives Paul Walden (maternal grandfather)

Hollo in Speaking Portraits

Anselm Hollo 'Why there is a Cat Curfew in my House".

**Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo** (12 April 1934 – 29 January 2013) was a [Finnish](/source/Finnish_people) poet and translator. He lived in the [United States](/source/United_States) from 1967 until his death in January 2013.[1]

Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the United Kingdom and in the United States, with a style strongly influenced by the American [beat poets](/source/Beat_poetry) and the [New York School](/source/New_York_School_(art)).

## Personal life

Paavo Anselm Aleksis Hollo was born in [Helsinki](/source/Helsinki), Finland. His father, [Juho August Hollo](/source/Juho_August_Hollo)[2] (1885–1967) — who liked to be known as "J. A." Hollo — was professor of pedagogy at the [University of Helsinki](/source/University_of_Helsinki), an essayist, and a major translator of literature into Finnish. His mother was Iris Antonina Anna Walden (1899–1983), a music teacher and daughter of organic chemist [Paul Walden](/source/Paul_Walden). He lived for eight years in the United Kingdom, and had three children (Hannes, Kaarina, and Tamsin) with his first wife, poet Josephine Clare. He was a permanent resident in the United States from the late 1960s until his death. At the time of his death, he resided in [Boulder, Colorado](/source/Boulder%2C_Colorado), with his second wife, artist Jane Dalrymple-Hollo.

## Career

In the 1960s, Hollo lived in [London](/source/London), England, and worked at the Finnish section of [BBC World Service](/source/BBC_World_Service). One of his tasks there was to write radio dramas in Finnish, together with another Finnish poet, Matti Rossi. The music to their productions was written by [Erkki Toivanen](/source/Erkki_Toivanen).[3]

Around this time, Hollo was also beginning to make a name for himself as a poet in the English language. In 1965, he performed at the "[underground](/source/UK_underground)" [International Poetry Incarnation](/source/International_Poetry_Incarnation), London. Also in the same year, the first customer of the [Indica Bookshop](/source/Indica_Gallery), a certain [Paul McCartney](/source/Paul_McCartney), is known to have bought, among other things, the book *& it is a song* by Anselm Hollo the day before the bookshop was officially opened.[4]

In 2001, poets and critics associated with the [SUNY](/source/State_University_of_New_York) Buffalo [POETICS list](/source/POETICS_list) elected Hollo to the honorary position of "anti-laureate", in protest at the appointment of [Billy Collins](/source/Billy_Collins) to the position of [Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress](/source/Poet_Laureate_Consultant_in_Poetry_to_the_Library_of_Congress).

Hollo translated poetry and [belles-lettres](/source/Belles-lettres) from Finnish, German, Swedish, and French into English. He was one of the early translators of [Allen Ginsberg](/source/Allen_Ginsberg) into German and Finnish.

Hollo taught [creative writing](/source/Creative_writing) in eighteen different institutions of higher learning, including [SUNY Buffalo](/source/University_at_Buffalo%2C_The_State_University_of_New_York), the [Iowa Writers' Workshop](/source/Iowa_Writers'_Workshop), and the [University of Colorado at Boulder](/source/University_of_Colorado_at_Boulder). From 1985, he taught in the [Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics](/source/Jack_Kerouac_School_of_Disembodied_Poetics) at [Naropa University](/source/Naropa_University), where he held the rank of Full Professor.[5]

Several of his poems have been set into music by pianist and composer Frank Carlberg. Poets [Ted Berrigan](/source/Ted_Berrigan) and [Alice Notley](/source/Alice_Notley) named their son [Anselm Berrigan](/source/Anselm_Berrigan) after Hollo.

Hollo became ill during the summer of 2012 and had brain surgery. He died from post-operative pneumonia on 29 January 2013, at the age of 78.

## Awards

- 1979: [NEA](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts)[6] and Poets Foundation fellowships[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- 1996: Gertrude Stein Award in Innovative American Poetry 1995–1996[7]

- 1996: Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators[8]

- 2001: best book of poems Award by the [San Francisco Poetry Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Francisco_Poetry_Center&action=edit&redlink=1), for *Notes on the Possibilities and Attractions of Existence: New and Selected Poems 1965–2000*[9]

- 2004: [Harold Morton Landon Translation Award](/source/Harold_Morton_Landon_Translation_Award)[10]

## Selected publications

- *Sateiden välillä*, runoja. Otava, Helsinki 1956

- *& (And) what else is new : a small pamphlet*. Chatham, Kent: New Voice, 1963

- *Jazz poems*. London: Vista Books, 1963

- *& (And) it is a song : poems*. Birmingham: Migrant Press, 1965

- *Faces & Forms: Poems*. London: Ambit, 1965

- *Word from the North : new poetry from Finland, edited, translated and introduction by Anselm Hollo*. Blackburn London : Lancs., Poetmeat: Strangers Press, 1965

- *The claim*. London: Goliard Press, 1966

- *Maya*. Cape Goliard Press. 1970. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-670-46347-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-670-46347-3).

- *Alembic*, Trigram Press (distributed by [Allison and Busby](/source/Allison_and_Busby), 1972

- *Sojourner Microcosms: New & Selected Poems 1959–1977*. Blue Wind Press. January 1977. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-912652-39-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-912652-39-9).

- *Finite Continued*, Blue Wind Press, 1980 ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-912652-68-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-912652-68-3))

- [*Corvus: poems*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KwNAtjgB4YAC). Coffee House Press. 1995. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-56689-039-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-56689-039-7).

- [*Notes on the Possibilities and Attractions of Existence: Selected Poems 1965–2000*](https://books.google.com/books?id=jPeKE6jqQxsC&q=inauthor%3AAnselm+inauthor%3AHollo+sojourner&pg=PP6). Coffee House Press. 2001. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-56689-113-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-56689-113-4).

### Anthologies

- [Michael Horovitz](/source/Michael_Horovitz), ed. (1969). *[Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain](/source/Children_of_Albion%3A_Poetry_of_the_Underground_in_Britain)*. [Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books).

- [Edward Lucie-Smith](/source/Edward_Lucie-Smith), ed. (1970). *[British Poetry since 1945](/source/British_Poetry_since_1945)*. Penguin.

- [Jon Silkin](/source/Jon_Silkin), ed. (1973). *Poetry of the Committed Individual*. Penguin. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-14-042159-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-14-042159-9).

## See also

- [Poetry portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Poetry)

- *[The Czar's Madman](/source/The_Czar's_Madman)*

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Lehtonen, Soila (1 February 2013). ["In memoriam Anselm Hollo 1934–2013"](https://www.booksfromfinland.fi/2013/02/in-memoriam-anselm-hollo-1934-2013/). *Books From Finland*. Retrieved February 2, 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Liukkonen, Petri. ["Juho August Hollo"](https://web.archive.org/web/20061205215128/http://kirjasto.sci.fi/jahollo.htm). *Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi)*. Finland: [Kuusankoski](/source/Kuusankoski) Public Library. Archived from [the original](http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jahollo.htm) on 5 December 2006.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Östling, Tom (9 May 2013). ["Yks tavallinen Toivanen"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130604193024/http://areena.yle.fi/tv/1880181) [‘A Certain Ordinary Toivanen’]. [YLE](/source/YLE). Archived from [the original](http://areena.yle.fi/tv/1880181) on 4 June 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-09.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Miles, Barry (1997). *Many Years from Now*. London: Secker & Warburg. p. 225. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-436-28022-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-436-28022-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Anselm Hollo- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More](https://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/522)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Literature Fellowships"](https://www.arts.gov/grants/recent-grants/literature-fellowships). *www.arts.gov*. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Anselm Hollo"](https://web.archive.org/web/20101005111809/http://cyberpoems.com/abtans-h.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.cyberpoems.com/abtans-h.html) on 2010-10-05. Retrieved 2011-02-05.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Finnish state award for foreign translators"](https://fili.fi/en/for-translators/finnish-state-award-for-foreign-translators/). *FILI*. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Poetry Center honors Anselm Hollo with annual book award"](https://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2002/131.htm). *www.sfsu.edu*. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Poets, Academy of American. ["Harold Morton Landon Translation Award | Academy of American Poets"](https://poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/harold-morton-landon-translation-award). *poets.org*. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

## Further reading

- "Hollo, Paavo Anselm Aleksis". *Writers in Finland 1945–1980* (in Finnish). Helsinki: [Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura](/source/Suomalaisen_Kirjallisuuden_Seura) och [Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland](/source/Svenska_litteraturs%C3%A4llskapet_i_Finland). 1985. pp. 147–148. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [951-717-348-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/951-717-348-2).

## External links

- [The Anti-Laureate Announcement](http://www.corpse.org/archives/issue_10/broken_news/hollo.html)

- [Poems online](https://web.archive.org/web/20070501234940/http://www.samizdateditions.com/issue3/hollo1.html) at *[Samizdat (poetry magazine)](/source/Samizdat_(poetry_magazine))*

- ["Add-Verse"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180808012118/http://www.add-verse.info/) a poetry-photo-video project Hollo participated in.

- [Poetry Foundation announcement of Hollo's death](http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2013/01/rip-anselm-hollo/)

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