X.J. Kennedy, Prize-Winning Poet and Educator, Dies at 96
Award-winning poet, author, translator, and educator X.J. Kennedy, who schooled millions of students through The Bedford Reader and captivated readers with his children's stories and intricate, witty verse, has died at the age of 96. Kennedy passed away on Sunday due to natural causes at his home in Peabody, Massachusetts, as confirmed by his daughter, Dr. Kate Kennedy.
A Distinguished Literary Career
Born Joseph Charles Kennedy, he adopted the professional name X.J. Kennedy early in his career to distinguish himself from Joseph P. Kennedy, the former ambassador to Britain and father of President John F. Kennedy. From the early 1960s onward, Kennedy produced dozens of poetry and children's books, contributed to the widely used The Bedford Reader, and collaborated with poet and former National Endowment for the Arts chair Dana Gioia on anthologies of poetry, drama, and fiction.
Reflecting on his diverse audience, Kennedy once noted, "I write for three separate audiences: children, college students (who use textbooks), and that small band of people who still read poetry."
Impact Through Education and Verse
The Bedford Reader, established in the early 1980s, is a prominent composition book for college students, featuring works ranging from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech to Shirley Jackson's classic story "The Lottery." Kennedy edited this influential text alongside his wife, Dorothy, as well as Jane E. Aaron and Ellen Kuhl Repetto. Their aim was to demonstrate how accomplished writers craft their work and to encourage students not to feel discouraged by initial gaps in skill compared to masters like E.B. White.
Kennedy's poems, published in prestigious outlets such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic, were rhyming vignettes that explored everyday and macabre themes, including bartending, aging, and unsettling discoveries. His style was often light-hearted in tone yet dark in content, as seen in works like "Innocent Times," which critiques nostalgia for the "Mad Man" era, and "Fireflies," which juxtaposes peaceful twilight scenes with the horrors of the war on terrorism.
Accolades and Academic Contributions
Throughout his career, Kennedy received numerous accolades, including a Los Angeles Times book prize, the Poetry Society of America's Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement, and the Jackson prize from Poets & Writers for his exceptional talent. He taught English at institutions such as the University of Michigan, the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now UNC-Greensboro), and Tufts University. In the 1970s, he also served as the poetry editor for the Paris Review.
Early Life and Personal Journey
A native of Dover, New Jersey, Kennedy was an intrepid young man who wrote and published science fiction and helped found the Spectator Amateur Press Association, a leading science fiction fandom organisation that included members like Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, and Lenny Kaye. After attending Seton Hall and Columbia University, he served briefly in the Navy during the 1950s. At the University of Michigan, he pursued a Ph.D. in the 1950s and 1960s but never completed his dissertation. It was there that he met his future wife and professional collaborator, Dorothy Mintzlaff, who passed away in 2018. Together, they had five children and six grandchildren.
Kennedy's first book, "Nude Descending a Staircase: Poems, Songs, a Ballad," was published in 1961. His children's books included "One Winter Night in August and Other Nonsense Jingles" and the novel "The Owlstone Crown," while "In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus" compiled poems from 1955 to 2007, concluding with a reflective farewell to the text itself.
