Field was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York, where he played cello in the Field Family Trio, which had a weekly radio program on WGBB Freeport. He served in World War II in the 8th Air Force as a navigator in heavy bombers, and flew 25 missions over Germany.
He began writing poetry during World War II, after a Red Cross worker handed him an anthology of poetry.
"In 1959, I was working in the typing pool of an advertising agency, and the supervisor assigned the typewriter next to me to a new temp, a terrific-looking young man from California named Neil Derrick. It was a case of immediate attraction between WASP and Jew. We started a non-stop conversation that led the supervisor to switch him to another typewriter rows away from me. But we were soon going out together and in a few weeks I moved into his cold-water flat on West 47th Street in Hell's Kitchen. Neil was several years younger than me, and, though he had always kept a journal, he now he started writing fiction. After our ad agency jobs ended, Neil landed a permanent half-time job at the front desk of the Museum of Modern Art, which allowed him to do his writing while I settled into a long-term temporary job at a writing school in Rockefeller Center." (Picture: Neil Derrick)
In 1963 his book, Stand Up, Friend, With Me, was awarded the prestigious Lamont Poetry Prize and was published. In 1992, he received a Lambda Award for Counting Myself Lucky, Selected Poems 1963-1992.
Edward Field is an American poet and author. He and his partner Neil Derrick, long-time residents of Greenwich Village, have written a best-selling historical novel about the Village, The Villagers. Field has lived upstairs the Westbeth art gallery, 55 Bethune Street, since 1972. He and Derrick, together since 1959 — “with a two-year hiatus when we broke up, and then we straightened out our heads” — are a familiar sight in Greenwich Village, walking together, Neil’s hand on Edward’s shoulder.
Other honors include the Shelley Memorial Award, a Prix de Rome, and an Academy Award for the documentary film To Be Alive, for which he wrote the narration. In 1979, he edited the anthology A Geography of Poets, and in 1992, with Gerald Locklin and Charles Stetler, brought out a sequel, A New Geography of Poets.
He and his partner Neil Derrick, long-time residents of Greenwich Village, have written a best-selling historical novel about the Village, The Villagers. Field has lived upstairs the Westbeth art gallery, 55 Bethune Street, since 1972. He and Derrick, together since 1959 — “with a two-year hiatus when we broke up, and then we straightened out our heads” — are a familiar sight in Greenwich Village, walking together, Neil’s hand on Edward’s shoulder. Derrick has been blind since a brain-tumor operation also in 1972.
In 2005 the University of Wisconsin Press published his literary memoirs The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag and Other Intimate Literary Portraits of the Bohemian Era, the title of which refers to the writer Alfred Chester. His most recent book After the Fall: Poems Old and New was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2007.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Field_(poet)
Stand Up Friend With Me or Variety Photoplays or simply go for his Collected Poems. Field has been overshadowed by James Merrill and John Ashberry but he’s the one who’s going to endure. All of his poems are inventive, with his unique and original voice, while being well-mannered, sly, sexy, funny, sad and at all times amazingly smart. Yes, this is poetry for people who don’t read poetry. --Felice Picano
Edward Field, 1987, by Robert Giard (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/brbldl_getrec.asp?fld=img&id=1123783)
American photographer Robert Giard is renowned for his portraits of American poets and writers; his particular focus was on gay and lesbian writers. Some of his photographs of the American gay and lesbian literary community appear in his groundbreaking book Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, published by MIT Press in 1997. Giard’s stated mission was to define the literary history and cultural identity of gays and lesbians for the mainstream of American society, which perceived them as disparate, marginal individuals possessing neither. In all, he photographed more than 600 writers. (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/giard.html)
Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
Amazon: Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time
Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher
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