Neil Aitken | |
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| Born | 1974 (age 50–51) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, editor, and translator |
Neil Aitken (born 1974 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian poet, editor, and translator. He founded Boxcar Poetry Review. [1] [2] His first book, The Lost Country of Sight, won the 2007 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. [3] [4]
Aitken was born in Vancouver in 1974 [5] and was raised in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Canada, and the United States. [1] [6] His father was of Scottish and English descent and his mother was of Chinese descent. [7] He had a younger sister. [7] He attended elementary and secondary school in Regina. [7] Throughout high school, he enjoyed painting. [8] As an undergraduate, he studied Computer Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. [7]
He worked as a computer games programmer for several years. [7] In 2004, he quit his position to study at the University of California, Riverside, where he earned an MFA. [7] He earned a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. [9]
Aitken's first book, The Lost Country of Sight, won the 2007 Philip Levine Prize. [3] In 2016, he published Babbage’s Dream, a semi-finalist for the Anthony Hecht Prize. [9] He founded Boxcar Poetry Review. [1] Aitken and Chinese poet-translator Ming Di translated The Book of Cranes: Selected Poems of Zang Di. [9] In 2011, Aitken was awarded the DJS Translation Prize for "his translations of contemporary Chinese poetry." [9]
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