Papers of David Matlin, an American poet, writer, publisher and professor of English literature. Matlin taught poetry, creative writing, and English literature at universities, workshops, and prison education programs. The collection includes correspondence; drafts of Matlin's published and unpublished poetry and prose; collaborative projects with artist Gail Schneider; sound recordings; and publication materials for Diamond T Press.
David Matlin Papers, 1960-2018 (MSS 820)
Restrictions: Original sound recordings are restricted. Listening copies may be available for researchers.
Extent: 9 Linear feet (15 archives boxes, 1 records carton, 1 card file box, 1 flat box)
David Matlin was born October 5, 1944 in Upland, California, and graduated high school in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1962. He began writing poetry in the early 1960s, attending colleges, working various jobs, and becoming an activist in the anti-war and civil rights movements. In 1968, he began teaching poetry for the Watts Writer's Workshop, and continued as a lecturer in English literature and poetry at schools and colleges in California and New York. Matlin received a graduate fellowship in poetry at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1972, where he studied with Robert Creeley, John Clarke, Angus Fletcher, and Diane Christian. He was awarded a master of arts in 1974, and a Ph.D. with distinction in English literature in 1981.
Matlin taught poetry and literature at New York colleges and universities from 1978 to 1983, and published his first book of poetry, Fontana's Mirror in 1982. As publisher and editor of Diamond T Press, Matlin published poetry broadsides from 1977 to 1981, many of them illustrated by his wife, artist Gail Schneider. Schneider and Matlin also collaborated on an artists' book in 1988, a poetry exhibit at PS1 (Project Studio 1) in 1989, and on Dressed in Protective Fashion in 1990. From 1986 to 1989, Matlin was appointed curator of poetry and literature for PS1 and the Clocktower, where he coordinated literary events with visual arts exhibitions.
Starting in 1985, Matlin taught classes ranging from remedial reading to graduate seminars in literature at the State University of New York New Paltz Prison Education Program. A number of his students received graduate degrees and awards for their published writings. With nearly ten years teaching experience in prison education, Matlin published Vernooykill Creek: The Crisis of Prisons in America in 1997; it was republished in 2005 as Prisons: Inside the New America from Vernooykill Creek to Abu Ghraib.
The Prison Education Program lost funding in 1994, and Matlin returned to teaching literature at universities and workshops. In 1997, he became associate professor at San Diego State University for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Matlin's published works include China Beach (1989), It Might Do Well with Strawberries (2009), A HalfMan Dreaming (2012), and Up Fish Creek Road and Other Stories (2013). His first novel How the Night is Divided (1993) was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award. Matlin is currently professor emeritus at San Diego State University.
Papers of David Matlin, an American poet, writer, publisher and professor of English literature. Matlin taught poetry, creative writing, and English literature at universities, workshops, and prison education programs. The collection includes correspondence; drafts of Matlin's published and unpublished poetry and prose; collaborative projects with artist Gail Schneider; sound recordings; and publication materials for Diamond T Press.
The collection is arranged in seven series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS BY MATLIN, 4) COLLABORATIONS WITH GAIL SCHNEIDER, 5) DIAMOND T PRESS, 6) TEACHING, and 7) SOUND RECORDINGS.
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