Ruth Fainlight


Ruth Fainlight FRSL is an American-born poet, short story writer, translator and librettist based in the United Kingdom.

Life and career

Ruth Fainlight was born in New York, but has mainly lived in Britain since she was 15, having also spent some years living in France and Spain. She studied for two years at the Birmingham and Brighton Colleges of Art. In addition to her own works, Fainlight has also provided criticism for BBC Radio, The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian and numerous other publications.
Fainlight was married to the British writer Alan Sillitoe and has a son, David, who is a photographer for The Guardian, and an adopted daughter, Susan. Fainlight lives in London.
Fainlight has twice been Poet in Residence at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and was a close friend of Sylvia Plath in the years leading up to Plath's death.

Publications

Poetry collections

Cages, 1966.To See the Matter Clearly, 1968 from Macmillan UK; Dufour Editions, USThe Region's Violence, 1973.Another Full Moon, 1976.Sibyls and Others. 1980. New edition, Poetry Book Society, 2007Fifteen to Infinity, 1983. Also published 1987, Carnegie-Mellon University Press USSelected Poems. 1987.The Knot 1990. from Hutchinson or CenturyHutchinson, UKClimates. Bloodaxe Books UK, 1983.This Time of Year, 1994.Selected Poems. Updated new edition, Sinclair-Stevenson UK, 1995.Sugar-Paper Blue. Bloodaxe Books UK, Dufour Editions US, 1997.
  • *Shortlisted for 1998 Whitbread Poetry PrizeBurning Wire. Bloodaxe Books UK, Dufour Editions US, 2002.Moon Wheels. Bloodaxe Books, 2006. Dufour Editions US, 2007.New and Collected Poems. Bloodaxe Books, 25 November 2010.Somewhere Else Entirely. Bloodaxe Books, 15 November 2018.

Books

Sibyls. Gehenna Press US, 1991, with woodcuts by Leonard Baskin.Pomegranate. Editions de l`Eau, Ceret, France, 1997, mezzotints by Judith RothchildLeaves/Feuilles, Editions Verdigris, Octon, France, 1998. Bi-lingual, French/English, tr. M. Duclos; mezzotints by Judith RothchildFeathers, Editions Verdigris, France, 2002. Mezzotints by Judith RothchildSheba and Solomon. Pratt Contemporary Art, UK, 2004. Drypoints by Ana Maria Pacheco

Short story collections

Daylife and Nightlife. London: André Deutsch, 1971.Dr. Clock's Last Case. London: Virago Press, 1994.

Translations

Poetry collections in translation

La Verità sulla Sibilla, 2003, translated from Italian. Alessandra Schiavinato and Paolo Ruffilli, published by Edizioni del Leone, Venice, ItalyVisitação, 1995, edited by Ana Hatherly, Quetzal Editores, Lisbon, PortugalEncore la Pleine Lune, 1997, trans. M. Duclos & J. Joubert, Editions Federop, Eglise-Neuve d'Issac, FranceLeaves/Feuilles 1998, trans. M. Duclos, Editions Verdigris, Octon, FranceBleu Papier-Sucre, 2000, trans. M. Duclos, Les Amis de la Poésie, Bergerac, FrancePlumas published by Editorial El Tucan de Virginia, Mexico City, Mexico, 2005.Poemas 2000, trans. B. Varela, L. Graves, M. Negroni, J. Capriata, M. Lauer Editorial Pequeña Venecia, Caracas, VenezuelaAutorul La Rampa, 2007, tr. Lidia Vianu, Univers Enciclopedic, Bucharest, RomaniaLa Nueva Ciencia de los Materiales Fuertes 2009,
trans. M. Rosenberg & D. Samoilovich, Cosmopoetica, Cordoba, Spain

Poems in translation

The poem "Sugar-Paper Blue" was translated into Russian by Marina Boroditskaya and is published in the April 2003 issue of the Moscow monthly Inostrannaya Literatura.
The poem sequence "Sheba and Solomon" has been translated into Russian by Marina Boroditskaya and published in Moscow in the literary magazine Novaya Younost in 2003.

Libretti

The Dancer Hotoke 1991, composer Erika Fox.The European Story 1993, chamber opera, composer Geoffrey Alvarez. Both works above were commissioned by the Royal Opera House for their "Garden Venture" program in 1991 and 1993.Bedlam Britannica September 1995.

Awards and honours