Daniel Mark Epstein

Daniel Mark Epstein was born on October 25, 1948, in Washington, D.C. and studied at Kenyon College. He is the author of more than fifteen books of poetry, biography, and history.

He published his first volume of poetry, No Vacancies in Hell (Liveright) in 1973. His other poetry collections include Dawn to Twilight: New and Selected Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 2015), The Glass House: New Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 2009), and The Traveler’s Calendar (Overlook Books, 2002). According to The New Republic, “Epstein is, centrally, a love poet, and a splendid one.”

While he was gaining wider recognition as a poet in the 1970s, Epstein was also developing his career as a playwright, with three plays produced in regional theater and off-Broadway between 1977 and 1999. He published his first biography, Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson (Mariner Books) in 1993, followed by biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Nat King Cole, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Bob Dylan.

His honors include the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Prix de Rome from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has held residencies at Kenyon College and Washington College and lives in Baltimore, Maryland.