Laughlin, James, 1914-1997

James Laurence Laughlin was born on October 30, 1914, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He was an American poet, editor, and literary book publisher who founded New Directions Publishing. His family made its fortune with the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, founded in 1852. This wealth would partially fund Laughlin's future endeavours in publishing. He matriculated from Harvard University in 1933 and spent the early 1930s travelling in Europe. In 1936, he founded the publishing house New Directions in New York City. Its first publication was “New Directions in Prose & Poetry”, an anthology of poetry and writings by authors such as William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Elizabeth Bishop, Henry Miller, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, and E. E. Cummings. It became an annual publication, issuing its final number in 1991. A natural athlete and an avid skier, Laughlin travelled the world skiing and hiking and founded the Alta Ski Area in Utah. In the early 1950s, he took part in what has come to be known as the Cultural Cold War against the Soviet Union. Laughlin published his first book of poetry, "Some Natural Things", in 1945 and continued to write verses until his death. He won the 1992 Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award from the National Book Awards Program. The Academy of American Poets' James Laughlin award is named in his honour.

In 1942, he married Margaret Ellen Keyser (1917–1994), and in 1956, he remarried Ann Clark Roser (1925–1989) and, in 1991, Gertrude Beulah Freedman (1919–1998). He died on November 12, 1997, in Norfolk, Connecticut.