William Childress (born in Hugo, Oklahoma, February 5, 1933) is an American writer, author, poet, and photojournalist. Childress has received numerous awards, prizes, and accolades for his writing and poetry, and is regarded as one of the foremost poets of the Korean War.[1]
Contents |
Born the oldest son of a poor family of migrant sharecroppers, Childress joined the Army at age 18, serving in the Korean War as a demolitions specialist in 1952. After the war he reenlisted as a paratrooper, making 33 jumps, and twice narrowly escaping death from parachute malfunctions.
Three honorable discharges later, Childress attended Fresno State College in California, studying English and Journalism, and set a record as the only undergraduate to publish poetry, fiction and photojournalism in national magazines (Display World, Mademoiselle, and Poetry).
This helped him get two fellowships to the University of Iowa Writers Workshop and a Master of Fine Arts degree. His thesis later became his first book of poems, Lobo.
During his 45-year photojournalism career, Childress has published some 4,000 articles in various magazines and other publications, including National Geographic, Country Living, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, Playboy, Ladies' Home Journal, Smithsonian, Sports Afield, TV Guide, Air & Space Smithsonian, The Nation, and The New Republic, as well as approximately 6,000 magazine and newspaper photos.
For 14 years (from 1983 to 1997), Childress wrote a regular column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called "Out of the Ozarks." His column became so popular that in 1988 Childress wrote a book, also titled Out of the Ozarks, which was published by Southern Illinois University Press, and became a regional bestseller. Childress was also nominated (twice) for the Pulitzer Prize, in the Commentary category.
Childress has published some 350 poems, in such journals as Poetry Magazine, Poet Lore, The Southern Review, Hearse, North American Review, Georgia Review, and Northwest Review, as well as the University of Columbia American War Poetry Anthology (2007). He has published dozens of short stories, including "Uncle Roman," which won the prestigious STORY award in 1970. He has published three books of poetry: Burning the Years (1970, Barlenmir House), the Devins Award-winning Lobo (1972, Barlenmir House), and Selected Poems (1986, Essai Sea Press). He has recently authored a fourth poetry book, Cowboys & Indians, the poems of which have all appeared in various magazines.
In 2006, Childress' autobiographical memoir An Ozark Odyssey was published by Southern Illinois University Press. An ex-paratrooper and Korean War demolitions expert, Childress has also written a Korean War memoir, Working Man's War, which is due to be published soon. In addition, Childress has written a novel, The Taro Leaf Murders, and co-authored (with Frank Oberle) the photographic anthology Missouri on My Mind (1990, Falcon Press).
In addition to his two Pulitzer Prize nominations, Childress' literary awards and achievements include the Joseph Henry Jackson Poetry Award, the State of Illinois Literary Award, the Poetry Society of America Award, and the above-mentioned Devins Award. In 2004, Childress was awarded a $5,000 fellowship to the exclusive Millay Colony for the Arts, a prestigious writer's retreat in upstate New York. Childress was also awarded the "Maxwell Medal" by the Dog Writers Association of America in 2003, for his story "Bonnie's Big Break."
Childress' work has been read on BBC radio, as well as featured in a 2003 Canadian Korean War documentary, "The Unfinished War." Childress has appeared on American television and radio numerous times.
In the mid-1980s, Childress was being considered (together with a number of other journalists) as a candidate for the Civilians in Space program, which aimed to put a journalist aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle. However, the tragic 1986 death of teacher Christa McAuliffe in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster put an end to the Civilians In Space program.
Childress is believed to be the first poet ever to use the word "braille" as a verb. This coinage appeared in his poem "The Dreamer" (1962, Harper's Magazine):
He spent his childhood hours in a den
of rushes, watching the grey rain braille
the surface of the river. Concealed
from the outside world, nestled within,
he was safe from parents, God, and eyes
that look upon him accusingly,
as though to say: Even at your age,
you could do better. His camouflage
was scant but it served, and at evening,
when fireflies burned holes into heaven,
he took a path homeward in the dark,
a small Noah, leaving his safe ark.
Childress submitted his coinage to the Editorial Staff of Webster's Dictionary, and was informed that indeed, he did appear to be the creator of the word. But although the usage was eventually standardized (and is now a part of the English language), Childress has never been publicly credited with the neologism, until now.
Childress now lives in Folsom, California, with his wife Diane.