Living Root: A Memoir

by Michael Heller

Living Root is the story of an education, a writer's wandering through personal and family history, through texts and traditions. Recalling his family's origins in Bialystok as well as his own childhood in Brooklyn and Miami Beach, poet and essayist Michael Heller creates a rich mosaic of reflections on his past, his origins, and the entanglements of thought and religion that have shaped his life and writing. Living Root enlarges the memoir genre, vividly illuminating the interactions of memory, autobiography, and the evolving creative self.

190 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Michael Heller has published more than twenty-five volumes of poetry, essays, and memoir. His recent works include the poetry collection This Constellation Is a Name: Collected Poems 1965–2010, Dianoia, and Beckmann Variations and Other Poems, a work in prose and poetry. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including awards from the Poetry Society of America, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Fund for Poetry. He lives in New York City.