A SELECTION OF WORKS BY JON SWAN (1929-2022))
Poetry, occasional verse, journalism, and other works.
About Jon Swan
Jon Swan was a poet, translator, and journalist. Born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1929, he grew up in both Iowa and Nebraska before attending Oberlin College in Ohio. He later earned a master’s degree in English at Boston University.
Jon worked for the American Friends (Quakers) Service Committee in both the US and Germany, taught in Switzerland, edited in China, and directed a large cast of Rato Bangala students in Patan, Nepal, in a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This production featured set and costume designs created by his wife, Marianne. After spending forty years in the Berkshires, he and Marianne relocated to Yarmouth, Maine, in 2013. Jon Swan passed away in September 2022 in Yarmouth and is survived by Marianne, their three daughters, and two grandchildren.
His literary articles and poems have appeared in prestigious publications such as The Atlantic, Antaeus, Exquisite Corpse, Harvard Magazine, The New Yorker, and Tikkun. In the UK, his work featured in magazines like HU: The Honest Ulsterman, The Observer, Rialto, and Stand.
Jon published three notable poetry collections: Journeys & Return, included in Poets of Today, VII (Scribner's), A Door to the Forest (Random House), and Language & Landscape (self-published).
In collaboration with director Ulu Grosbard, Jon translated Peter Weiss’s The Investigation, along with translations of Weiss's Hoelderlin and Kleist’s The Broken Jug with Carl Weber. Additionally, he worked with his wife to translate Black Ulysses and Gangrene by Jeff Geerarts from Dutch.
His one-act plays have been performed by the Seattle Repertory Theater, off-Broadway, and at Mixed Company in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Jon’s reporting on environmental issues, particularly those related to Iceland, alongside a range of other topics, has been featured in The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, showcasing his versatile talent in journalistic writing.