Richie Hofmann

{{Short description|American poet}} {{Infobox writer | name = Richie Hofmann | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Richard Joseph Hofmann | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1987|05|26}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | nationality = American | education = | occupation = Poet | genre = American poetry, Ekphrastic poetry | alma_mater = Boston University (BA)<br />Johns Hopkins University (MFA)<br /> Emory University (PhD) | notable_works = | movement = | spouse = Ryan Hagerty | partner = | awards =  | module = }}

'''Richard "Richie" Joseph Hofmann''', is an American poet, Guggenheim Fellow, winner of the Alice James Award, and the Pushcart Prize. He is regularly published in The New Yorker,<ref name="ny1">{{cite magazine |title="French Novel" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/french-novel |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=1 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="ny2">{{cite magazine |title="Under Limestone" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/24/under-limestone |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=14 May 2021}}</ref><ref name="ny3">{{cite magazine |title=Idyll |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/28/idyll-8 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=21 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="ny4">{{cite magazine |title=Arms|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/31/arms-richie-hofmann-poem |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=29 March 2025 |date=24 March 2025}}</ref><ref name="ny5">{{cite magazine |title="Men's Beds" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/mens-beds-richie-hofmann-poem |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 January 2026 |date=12 January 2026}}</ref> and has been featured in The Atlantic,<ref name="atlantic">{{cite web |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=Night Star |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/03/poem-richie-hofmann-night-star/627046/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=3 October 2022 |language=en |date=13 March 2022}}</ref> The New York Times<ref name="nyt2">{{cite news |last1=Rider |first1=Jason |title=Young Poets Society |url=http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/10/t-magazine/10quality-ontheverge.html?_r=2 |access-date=6 October 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=6 March 2013 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="nyt1">{{cite web |last1=Chee |first1=Alexander |title='The Boys in the Band' Cast Reads Queer Poetry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/t-magazine/matt-bomer-zachary-quinto-boys-in-the-band-queer-poetry.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=26 February 2018}}</ref> and The New York Review of Books.<ref name="nyrb1">{{cite magazine |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=At the Rustic Hamlet Built in 1783 for Marie Antoinette, Last Queen of France {{!}} Richie Hofmann |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/11/04/rustic-hamlet-built-in-1783-for-marie-antoinette/ |website=New York Review of Books |access-date=3 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Hofmann was the Jones Lecturer in poetry at Stanford University, where he taught poetry and creative writing courses.<ref name="Stanford">{{cite web |title=Richie Hofmann {{!}} Department of English |url=https://english.stanford.edu/people/richie-hofmann |website=Stanford University |access-date=3 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> As of 2025, he is a lecturer in the University of Chicago undergraduate core curriculum. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Tori |last2=Lerner |first2=Louise |date=2025-04-16 |title=Three UChicago scholars receive 2025 Guggenheim Fellowships {{!}} University of Chicago News |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/three-uchicago-scholars-receive-2025-guggenheim-fellowships |access-date=2025-10-21 |website=news.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref>

==Life and career==

Hofmann is of German descent on both sides, with his father's family originating from Speyer.<ref name="columbia_j">{{cite web |last1=Wiora |first1=Brian |title=Heading Back into Memory: An Interview with Richie Hofmann |url=http://columbiajournal.org/heading-back-into-memory-an-interview-with-richie-hofmann/ |website=Columbia Journal |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=17 September 2018}}</ref> He spent his early childhood in Munich, which he cites as formative in his exploration of the concept of time, and his relationship to Europe within poetry.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=My Ekphrasis |url=https://www.nicholashall.art/journal/my-ekphrasis/ |website=Nicholas Hall |access-date=3 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

He has contributed to ''The New Yorker'' since 2013, including audio readings for the online portion of the magazine. In interviews Hofmann often cites music, in particular opera and musicals, as having a strong influence on his life and work.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shpakow |first1=Tatiana |last2=Voruganti |first2=Priyanka |title=3Q4: Richie Hofmann |url=http://www.interlochenreview.org/richie-hoffman |website=The Interlochen Review |access-date=4 October 2022}}</ref> He has described Sondheim's music as "the rock of my life",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Case |first1=Doug Paul |title=Being Cute, Being Funny: An Interview with Richie Hofmann by Doug Paul Case |url=https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/being-cute-being-funny |website=www.hobartpulp.com |access-date=4 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and wrote the poem "Birthday" as a tribute to Mozart.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=Birthday by Richie Hofmann - Poems {{!}} Academy of American Poets |url=https://poets.org/poem/birthday-0 |website=poets.org |publisher=Academy of American Poets |access-date=4 October 2022}}</ref> Hofmann collaborated with the composer Brian Baxter to write the lyrics for the piece "Old World Elegy" for voice and string quartet. The world premier was held in Chicago, hosted by the Poetry Foundation, and won the Memorious Art Song Contest of 2013.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richard Joseph |title=Blackletter |date=13 March 2014 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |page=56 |url=https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/59112 |access-date=6 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Hofmann's work often explores male desire, and relationship to the body.<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview with Richie Hofmann |url=https://www.napkinpoetryreview.org/interview-with-richie-hofmann |website=Napkin Poetry Review |access-date=3 October 2022}}</ref> Comparisons drawn between his work and that of the late French autofiction writer and photographer Hervé Guibert, led Hofmann to write more "intensely, in a way which was more vulgar".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mehrish |first1=Divya |title=Issue Forty-Two: A Conversation with Richie Hofmann - The Adroit Journal |url=https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-forty-two/a-conversation-with-richie-hofmann/ |website=The Adroit Journal |access-date=3 October 2022 |date=10 August 2022}}</ref> He also frequently includes classical themes and images in his poetry.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harrison |first1=Julia |title=3Q4: Richie Hofmann |url=https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/3q4-richie-hofmann |website=The Sewanee Review |access-date=3 October 2022}}</ref>

In 2015 Hofmann published his first collection of poems, titled ''Second Empire,'' which was awarded the 2014 Alice James Award, then known as the Beatrice Hawley Award, by Alice James Books and became critically acclaimed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=Second empire |date=2015 |publisher=Alice James Books |location=Farmington, Maine |isbn=9781938584169}}</ref> That year he also co-founded Lightbox Poetry, an online educational resource for creative writing, with fellow poet Kara van de Graaf.<ref>{{cite web |title=About |url=https://lightboxpoetry.com/about/ |website=Lightbox Poetry |access-date=3 October 2022}}</ref> One of his most widely known poems is "Book of Statues", about the hate crime murder of Matthew Shepard on October 12, 1998. The poem was first published by the Academy of American Poets Poem-a Day on October 12, 2016. On the twentieth remembrance of Matthew Shepard's murder in 2018, The New York Times featured his poem with a reading by actor Matt Bomer.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stumpf |first1=Brendan |title=Video: Read T a Poem {{!}} Matt Bomer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/video/t-magazine/100000005756504/read-t-a-poem-matt-bomer.html |access-date=3 October 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=26 February 2018}}</ref>

Hofmann published his second poetry collection ''A Hundred Lovers'' in 2022 with Random House.<ref name="hunlovers">{{cite book |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=A hundred lovers : poems |date=2022 |location=New York |isbn=9780593320983 |edition=First}}</ref> The book was featured in the list of top "46 Must-Read Books by Queer Writers" in Esquire Magazine.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ortile |first1=Matt |title=46 Must-Read Books by Queer Writers |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39598614/best-books-by-lgbtq-writers/ |access-date=4 October 2022 |work=Esquire |date=16 June 2022}}</ref>

In 2026 Hofmann published his third collection, titled ''The Bronze Arms'' , a queer coming-of-age poetry book that draws on his childhood near-drowning in Crete and imagery from classical antiquity to explore themes of desire, vulnerability, and survival.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bronze Arms by Richie Hofmann: 9780593804742 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/797430/the-bronze-arms-by-richie-hofmann/ |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |publisher=Penguin Random House |access-date=20 January 2026}}</ref>

==Awards== Hofmann has been the beneficiary of several fellowships, including the Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation and the Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Staff |first1=Harriet |title=Richie Hofmann on the Significance of Louise Glück's Nobel Win by Harriet Staff |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2020/10/richie-hofmann-on-the-significance-of-louise-glucks-nobel-win |website=Poetry Foundation |access-date=4 October 2022 |language=en |date=3 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="Stanford" />

For his first collection of poems, ''Second Empire'', Hofmann won the Alice James Award, then known as the Beatrice Hawley Award, in 2014.

In 2025, Hoffman was named a Guggenheim Fellow and awarded a Literature Fellowship from National Endowment for the Arts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richie Hofmann Named National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow |url=https://writingseminars.jhu.edu/2025/02/12/richie-hofmann-receives-national-endowment-for-the-arts-creative-writing-fellowship/#:~:text=The%20National%20Endowment%20for%20the,travel%2C%20and%20general%20career%20development. |website=The Writing Seminars |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press Release |access-date=13 May 2025 |date=12 February 2025}}</ref>

==Personal life== Hofmann is married to Ryan Hagerty to whom his first book, ''Second empire'', is dedicated.<ref name="hunlovers" /> He has lived between the cities of Chicago and San Francisco.

==Poetry collections== * {{cite book |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=Second Empire |date=2015 |publisher=Alice James |location=Farmington, Maine |isbn=9781938584169 |edition=First}} * {{cite book |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=A Hundred Lovers : Poems |date=2022 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=9780593320983 |edition=First}} * {{cite book |last1=Hofmann |first1=Richie |title=The Bronze Arms |date=2026 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=9780593804742|edition=First}}

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Richie}} Category:American LGBTQ poets Category:Living people Category:American gay writers Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:American male poets Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:1987 births Category:21st-century American male writers