A Translator’s Confession

The president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of New York’s most revered publishing houses, Mr. Galassi is a standout in his field, a savvy yet old-fashioned hands-on editor who has played an instrumental role in the success of such notable authors as Alice McDermott, Jonathan Franzen, and Jeffrey Eugenides, among others. His first experience as an editor was as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy. There, he discovered the joys of working with others on their writing, the “thrill,” in his own words, “of being present at the creation of somebody’s work.” After attending Harvard College, where he studied with Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, and earning an MA from Cambridge University, Mr. Galassi joined Houghton Mifflin as an editor in the trade division. He eventually moved to Random House, as a senior editor, until being appointed vice-president and executive editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He was named editor-in-chief in 1988, executive vice-president in 1993, publisher in 1999, and president in 2002. In 2008 he received the Maxwell E. Perkins Award, which recognizes an editor, publisher, or agent who “has discovered, nurtured and championed writers of fiction in the U.S.”

Although he identifies himself as a publisher and editor, committed to enhancing the dissemination of quality literature first and foremost, Mr. Galassi’s passion for poetry and language have earned him accolades as a poet and translator. He has published two collections of his own poems, Morning Run (Paris Review Editions, 1988) and North Street (HarperCollins, 2000); a third, Left-handed, is forthcoming in 2012 (from Alfred A. Knopf). He is the translator of several works by Italian poet Eugenio Montale, including The Second Life of Art: Selected Essays (Ecco Press, 1982); Otherwise: Last and First Poems (Random House, 1984); Collected Poems: 1920-1954 (FSG, 1998); and Posthumous Diary (Turtle Point Press, 2001). His translation of Giacomo Leopardi’s Canti was published by FSG in 2010.

Mr. Galassi is honorary chairman of the Academy of American Poets, which he served as president from 1994 to 1999 and chairman from 1999 to 2002. He also served as poetry editor of the Paris Review for ten years. Currently, he is a member of the board of overseers of the California Institute of the Arts and a trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy.