Gary Snyder Biography, Age, Weight, Height, Friend, Like, Affairs, Favourite, Birthdate & Other

1997 – Bollingen Prize for Poetry

1997 – John Hay Award for Nature Writing

2008 – Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

1986 – Levinson Prize

1998 – Buddhism Transmission Award

2004 – Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Awards

Gary Sherman Snyder is a famous American poet, writer, educator, travel writer, translator and environmental activist. He was born and brought up in California – his family suffered during the Great Depression when he was very young. He studied in the Reed College where he developed interest in the poetry and got some of his poems published for the first time. Later he got himself enrolled at Indiana University but left it in the middle to pursue his passion for poetry in San Francisco.

He worked as a timber scaler and looked out for fire over the mountains, logger, etc. After this, he went to the University of California to study Asian culture and languages.

After graduation, he went to Japan for a year to study Zen under Miura Isshu. He eventually became his disciple and studied koan, ancient texts, Japanese language, etc. under him and lived the life of a monk for a while. On his experiences from the wide range of jobs, studies and travels, Snyder wrote many poetry books and essays. He was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for one of his books and is still working as an educator at the University of California.