David R. Slavitt

David R. Slavitt, poet, novelist, critic, and translator, died on May 17, 2025 in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was praised and admired by fellow wordsmiths and was very prolific with over 130 published works.  His written works ranged from collections of his own poetry and literary novels to translations from a variety of languages, including ancient Greek and Latin, Hebrew scripture, Sanskrit, and medieval English.  He also wrote plays, criticism, essays, and an opera which he co-wrote with his friend, the filmmaker Fred Wiseman.  Some of his bestsellers were written under the pseudonym Henry Sutton.  He was beloved by his circle of seven fellow poets who christened themselves “A New Pléiade” in their 1998 collection of selected poems.  His works were particularly praised by Joyce Carol Oates and Henry Taylor, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and longtime friend.   The July 3 issue of the New York Times ran a wonderful article about David which focused on his career as a writer in several genres and his many published works.