The Poetry Porch 1: Poets


Budenz at Bellagio, Italy, April 1996
 

About Julia Budenz

Julia Budenz was born in New York City and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1969 or 1970 she has been writing a long poem, "The Gardens of Flora Baum," which consists of five books: (1) "By the Tree of Life," (2) "Towards a Greek Garden," (3) "Rome," (4) "Towards Farthest Thule," and (5) "By the Tree of Knowledge." The conclusion of Book Two was published by Wesleyan University Press in 1984 under the title From the Gardens of Flora Baum, and other sections have appeared in American and European journals (1971-2000).

After graduating from the College of New Rochelle with a major in classics (Latin and Greek), Julia Budenz did her graduate work at Catholic University in classics (Latin and Greek) and medieval Latin, at New York University in comparative literature (Greek and English), and at Harvard University in comparative literature (Greek, Latin, and English). She has taught Greek, Latin, English, and mythology at Berea College, Colby College, the College of New Rochelle, and the Radcliffe Seminars, and she has assisted with research, translation, and editing in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. She has held residencies and fellowships and appointments as visiting scholar and visiting artist from the American Academy in Rome, the Bellagio Study and Conference Center of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bunting Fellowship Program of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Departments of Comparative Literature and of English at Harvard University, the Djerassi Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Yaddo. She has given readings of her poetry in the United States, Britain, and Italy. Commentary published in the United States or in Britain includes pieces on her work by Janet Caird, Amy Clampitt, Gretchen Elmendorf, James Mann, and Susan Mitchell, and her poetry has been set to music by Janice Hamer and by Dale Jergenson.

In 2005, Pivot Press published Carmina Carmentis, a selection of Book Three of "The Gardens of Flora Baum". Budenz gave a reading from this selection at The Grolier Poetry Shop in October 2006.



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