Annal:1994 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry

Rider

Mark Rudman

• 1994 NBCC–Poetry winner
• Score: 10.44

Mark Rudman—poet, essayist, translator, and teacher—has consistently pursued questions of human relationship and identity, and in Rider he takes the poetry of autobiography and confessional to a new plane. In a polyphonic narrative that combines verse with lyrical prose and often humorous dialogue, Rudman examines his own coming-of-age through the lens of his relationships with his grandfather, father, step-father, and son. These memories emerge against the background of a family history anchored in the traditions of Judaism and the culture of the diaspora.