20 Facts About James Laughlin

James Laughlin was an American poet and literary book publisher who founded New Directions Publishing.

James Laughlin was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Henry Hughart and Marjory Rea Laughlin.

At The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, James Laughlin showed an early interest in literature.

Harvard University, where James Laughlin matriculated in 1933, had a more conservative literary bent, embodied in the poet and professor Robert Hillyer, who directed the writing program.

In 1934, Laughlin traveled to France, where he met Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas.

Later, James Laughlin took a leave of absence from Harvard and stayed with Pound in Rapallo for several months.

When James Laughlin returned to Harvard, he used money from his father to found New Directions, which he ran first from his dorm room and later from a barn on his Aunt Leila James Laughlin Carlisle's estate in Norfolk, Connecticut.

James Laughlin often remarked that the popularity of Siddhartha subsidized the publication of many other money-losing books of greater importance.

James Laughlin later wrote a poem about this, called Experience of Blood, in which he expresses his shock at the amount of blood in the human body.

James Laughlin spearheaded the surveying of the Albion-Sugarloaf ski area, along with Alta notables Chic Morton, Alf Engen, and fellow Ski Enthusiast and Painter Ruth Rogers-Altmann.

At times James Laughlin's skiing got in the way of his business.

When reviewers sought additional copies of the novel, James Laughlin was not available to give the book the push it could have used, and as a result Williams nursed a grudge against the young publisher for years.

Pound's advice to James Laughlin to give up poetry didn't stick.

James Laughlin published his first book of poetry, Some Natural Things, in 1945, and continued to write verse until his death.

James Laughlin won the 1992 Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award from the National Book Awards Program.

James Laughlin was first married to Margaret Keyser for a decade; the couple had two children.

In 1955, James Laughlin married Anne Clark Resor, and with her had two children.

James Laughlin met Gertrude Huston in 1945 at a Halloween dance party.

James Laughlin corresponded with literary critic and poet M Bernetta Quinn.

James Laughlin died of complications related to a stroke in Norfolk, Connecticut, at age 83.