Milton Kessler (1930-2000) was a poet and an English professor at Binghamton University, where he co-founded the school’s creative writing program. He grew up in New York where he volunteered as a spear carrier and prop boy at the New York Metropolitan Opera as a teenager. He attended graduate school at Harvard University but left to teach at Binghamton University after finding success as a poet. Along with his several books, Kessler’s work has appeared in Oregon Literary Review and The Nation. After his death due to thyroid cancer in 2000, Binghamton University established an eponymous poetry award in his honor.
Discipline:
Literature – poetry
Milton Kessler
Discipline:
Literature – poetry
Region: Binghamton, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 1966, 1979
Studios
Star
Milton Kessler worked in the Star studio.
Funded by Alpha Chi Omega, a national fraternity founded in 1885, Star Studio — built in 1911–1912 — was the first studio given to the residency by an outside organization. To this day, Alpha Chi sorority pledges learn the story of Star Studio and its role in supporting American arts and letters. Beginning as a nicely proportioned…