DeWitt Henry is an American poet and novelist. He was the founding editor of Ploughshares literary magazine. His books include The Marriage of Anna Maye Potts (winner in the US of the Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel) and a trilogy in memoir including Sweet Dreams: A Family History (Hidden River, 2011) Safe Suicide: Narratives, Essays, and Meditations (Red Hen, 2008), and Endings & Beginnings: Family Essays (MadHat), which was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, 2022; and a collection of notes and essays, Sweet Marjoram (MadHat 2018). He has also edited several anthologies, including Fathering Daughters and Sorrow’s Company (both from Beacon Press). His first poetry collection, Restless for Words: Poems, will appear in late 2022 from Finishing Line Press. His work on Ploughshares was recognized by a Massachusetts Commonwealth Awards in the Arts, Humanities, and Interpretive Sciences in 1993. He has also received the Third Annual Editors Book Award from Pushcart Press and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts. He is Professor Emeritus at Emerson College and serves as a contributing editor to both Woven Tale Press and Solstice magazines.
