Jack Hirschman is a poet and social activist who has written more than 50 volumes of poetry and essays. He was officially named San Francisco’s poet laureate in 2006.
While attending City College of New York in 1955, he worked as a copy boy for the Associated Press. When he was 19, he sent a story to Ernest Hemingway who responded: “I can’t help you, kid. You write better than I did when I was 19. But the hell of it is, you write like me. That is no sin. But you won’t get anywhere with it.” Hirschman left a copy of the letter with the Associated Press, and when Hemingway killed himself in 1961, the “Letter to a Young Writer” was distributed by the wire service and published all over the world.
Among his many volumes of poetry are: A Correspondence of Americans, Black Alephs, Lyripol, The Bottom Line and Endless Threshold. His poetry has been published in Italy as well.
He is an assistant editor at the left-wing literary journal Left Curve and is a correspondent for The People’s Tribune. Hirschman is also a painter and collagist, and has translated over two dozen books from the German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Albanian, and Greek.
Jack joined us in an interview at one of his favorite haunts, Caffé Trieste. He also was part of a lively exchange at Vesuvio’s with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bill Morgan and his goddaughter, Amber Tamblyn.
