Gordon Lish

Gordon Jay Lish (born February 11, 1934 in Hewlett, New York) is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, and Richard Ford. Gordon attended Phillips Academy, but left without graduating in 1952. Later, in 1959, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in English with honors from the University of Arizona, where he met his first wife, Loretta Frances Fokes. T... more

Gordon Jay Lish (born February 11, 1934 in Hewlett, New York) is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, and Richard Ford. Gordon attended Phillips Academy, but left without graduating in 1952. Later, in 1959, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in English with honors from the University of Arizona, where he met his first wife, Loretta Frances Fokes. They married in November 1956 and together had 3 children. Following Lish's graduation, the family moved to San Francisco; here Lish had a year of graduate study at San Francisco State College in 1960. In Early 1961, Candido Santogrossi and Lish founded a new Pacific Coast avant-garde literary journal, The Chrysalis Review. He is a father of four (Jennifer, Rebecca, Ethan, and Atticus), and a grandfather of six (Anne, and Carla, children of Jennifer; Pearl and Ezra, children of Rebecca; and Nina and Isaac, children of Ethan). In 1960, the Lish... less