Arts & Culture | January 31, 2012

Jonathan Galassi declares himself gay in "Left-handed," a book of poetry

In a new book of poems, high-ranking editor Jonathan Galassi ’71 alludes to his homosexuality.

In Left-handed, a book of poetry that is forthcoming in more ways than one, Jonathan Galassi ’71, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, finds a poetic voice for long-buried homosexual feelings. Galassi was for many years editor-in-chief at the distinguished publishing house. His new book will be published in March by Alfred A. Knopf/Random House.

In a searching profile in the New York Times, Charles McGrath, a former editor of the New York Times Book Review, explores Galassi's many-faceted career and his divorce after 36 years of marriage to Susan Grace Galassi, as well as Galassi's love relations with men in recent years. The Times also published three poems from the book.

For more about Galassi, read “High Type Culture,” a profile from Harvard Magazine’s archives.

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