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Thomas Lynch | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1948 (age 76–77) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Genre | Poetry |
Thomas Lynch (born 1948 inDetroit, Michigan) is an Americanpoet,essayist, andundertaker.
Lynch was educated bynuns and Christian Brothers atBrother Rice High School inBloomfield Hills, Michigan. Lynch then went to university and mortuary school, from which he graduated in 1973. He took over his family'sfuneral home inMilford, Michigan in the 1970s, though he has since stepped back from the role.[1][2] Lynch married in 1972 and divorced in 1984. He later remarried to Mary Tata in 1991. He has a daughter and three sons.
In 1970 Lynch went to Ireland for the first time, to find his family and readWilliam Butler Yeats andJames Joyce, an experience he recounts in his bookBooking Passage: We Irish and Americans.[3] He has returned many times since then, and now owns the small cottage in westCounty Clare that was the home of his great-great-grandfather, and which was given as a wedding gift in the 19th century. He spends a portion of each year there.[1]
Lynch's writing in his memoirBooking Passage: We Irish and Americans has been described as "slightly old-timey — wise with an almost iridescent quality". His writing frequently incorporates themes of death, life, and ancestry. His poems are often influenced by his own life, with frequent mentions of his ancestral home in County Clare.[1]
His collection of essays,The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade,[4] won theHeartland Prize for non-fiction, theAmerican Book Award,[5] and was a finalist for theNational Book Award. It has been translated into seven languages. A second collection of essays,Bodies in Motion and at Rest, won theGreat Lakes Book Award.
Lynch's work has appeared inThe New Yorker,Poetry,The Paris Review,Harper's,Esquire,Newsweek,The Washington Post,The New York Times,The Los Angeles Times,The Irish Times, andThe Times. His commentaries have been recorded and broadcast byBBC Radio,RTÉ andNPR. His work has been the subject of two documentary films:Learning Gravity, directed by Kathel Black for Little Bird Productions UK, aired on the BBC and RTÉ whilePBS Frontline'sThe Undertaking, a film by Karen O'Conner and Miri Navasky, aired in October 2007 on PBS stations nationwide. It won the 2008 Emmy Award for Arts and Culture Documentary.
Lynch is the recipient of grants and awards from theNational Endowment for the Arts, theMichigan Library Association, theNational Book Foundation, theArvon Foundation and theArts Council of Ireland. He has read and lectured at universities and literary centers throughoutEurope, theUnited Kingdom,Ireland,Australia,New Zealand and theUnited States. Lynch is also a regular presenter to professional conferences of funeral directors, hospice and medical ethics professionals, clergy, educators, and business leaders. He is an adjunct professor in the graduate creative writing program at theUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has appeared onC-SPAN,MSNBC,The Today Show, and thePBSBill Moyers series,On Our Own Terms.
