Stephen Mitchell (poet)



Stephen Mitchell (b. 1943 in Brooklyn, New York) is a poet, translator, scholar, and anthologist. He is married to author Byron Katie. They live in Ojai, California.

Education
Stephen Mitchell was educated at Poly Prep Country Day School, Amherst College, the University of Paris, and Yale University.

Career
Mitchell’s Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke has been called “the most beautiful group of poetic translations the twentieth century has produced.” William Arrowsmith said that his Sonnets to Orpheus “instantly makes every other rendering obsolete.” His Book of Job has been called “magnificent.” His bestselling Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, and Gilgamesh—which are not translations from the original text, but rather poetic interpretations that use existing translations into Western languages as their starting point—have also been highly praised by critics, scholars, and common readers. Gilgamesh was Editor's Choice of The New York Times Book Review, was selected as the Book Sense 2004 Highlight for Poetry, was a finalist for the first annual Quill Award in poetry, and was also featured as a holiday recommendation on NPR’s "All Things Considered". Mr. Mitchell is a two-time winner of the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets.

He has also written a book of poems, Parables and Portraits, and two books of fiction, Meetings with the Archangel and The Frog Prince.

His books for young readers include The Wishing Bone, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award as the best book of poetry for children published in the United States in 2003. Jesus: What He Really Said and Did was chosen by the American Library Association's Booklist as one of the top ten religious books for children in 2002. His rendition of Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale was chosen a Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2002, New York Public Library Children's Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, New England Book Show-Juvenile Category Winner, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Winner, and The National Council of Teachers of English 2002 Notable Children's Books.

He is coauthor of two of his wife Byron Katie’s bestselling books: Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy.

He has recently published a new verse translation of Homer's Iliad and is currently at work on the Odyssey.

Poetry

 * Parables and Portraits, HarperCollins, 1990, ISBN 0-06-092532-9

Fiction

 * The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults, Harmony Books, 1999, ISBN 0-60-960545-3
 * Meetings with the Archangel: A Comedy of the Spirit, HarperCollins, 1998, ISBN 0-06-018245-8

Nonfiction

 * A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are (with Byron Katie), Harmony Books, 2007, ISBN 0-307-33923-8
 * Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (with Byron Katie), Harmony Books, 2002, ISBN 1-400-04537-1
 * The Gospel According to Jesus, Harper Perennial 1993, ISBN 0-060-92321-0

Children's Books

 * The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen (illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher), Candlewick Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0763621599
 * Iron Hans: A Grimms’ Fairy Tale (illustrated by Matt Tavares), Candlewick Press, 2007, ISBN 0-76-362160-9
 * Genies, Meanies, and Magic Rings: Three Tales from the Arabian Nights (illustrated by Tom Pohrt), Walker & Co., 2007, ISBN 0-80-279639-7
 * The Tinderbox, by Hans Christian Andersen (illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline), Candlewick Press, 2007, ISBN 0-76-362078-5
 * The Wishing Bone and Other Poems (illustrated by Tom Pohrt), Candlewick Press, 2003, ISBN 0-76-361118-2
 * The Nightingale, by Hans Christian Andersen (illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline), Candlewick Press, 2002, ISBN 0-76-361521-8
 * Jesus: What He Really Said and Did, Harpertempest 2002, ISBN 0-06-449009-2
 * The Creation (illustrated by Ori Sherman), Dial Books, 1990, ISBN 0-80-370618-9

Translated

 * The Iliad, Free Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1439163375
 * The Second Book of the Tao, Penguin Press, 2009, ISBN 1-59-420203-2
 * Gilgamesh: A New English Version, Free Press, 2004, ISBN 0-74-326169-0
 * Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation, Harmony Books, 2002, ISBN 0-60-981034-0
 * Real Power: Business Lessons from the Tao Te Ching (with James A. Autry), Riverhead Books, 1998, ISBN 1-57-322089-2
 * Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon: Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda, HarperCollins, 1997, ISBN 0-06-018285-7
 * Genesis: A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories, Harper Collins, 1996, ISBN 0-06-092856-5
 * Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke, Modern Library, 1995, 0-67-960161-9
 * A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew, Harper Perennial, 1994, ISBN 0-06-092470-5
 * The Selected Poetry of Dan Pagis, University of California Press, 1996, ISBN 0-52-020539-1
 * Tao Te Ching, HarperCollins, 1988, hardcover ISBN 0-06-016001-2, paperback ISBN 0-06-016001-2, ISBN paperback P.S. edition 0-06-114266-2, pocket edition ISBN 0-06-081245-1, illustrated edition ISBN 0-71-121278-3
 * The Book of Job, Harper Perennial, 1992, ISBN 0-06-096959-8
 * The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (with Chana Bloch), University of California Press, 1996, ISBN 0-52-020538-3
 * The Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke, Simon & Schuster, 1985, ISBN 0-67-155708-4
 * The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke, Graywolf Press, 1985, ISBN 0-91-045702-6
 * Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, Random House, 1984, ISBN 0-39-474104-8
 * The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke, Random House, 1983, ISBN 0-67-973245-4
 * The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Random House 1982, ISBN 0-39-452434-9, Vintage, 1989, ISBN 0-67-972201-7

Edited

 * Question Your Thinking, Change the World: Quotations from Byron Katie, Hay House, 2007, ISBN 1-40-191730-2
 * The Essence of Wisdom: Words from the Masters to Illuminate the Spiritual Path, Broadway Books, 1998, ISBN 0-76-790305-6
 * Bestiary: An Anthology of Poems about Animals, Frog, Ltd., 1996, ISBN 1-88-331948-X
 * Into the Garden: A Wedding Anthology (with Robert Hass), HarperCollins, 1993, ISBN 0-06-016919-2
 * The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose, 1991, ISBN 0-06-092320-2
 * The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, HarperCollins, 1989, ISBN 0-06-092053-X
 * Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn, Grove Press, 1976, ISBN 0-80-213052-6