Shinder, Jason 1955–2008

(Jason Scott Shinder)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 19, 1955, in Brooklyn, NY; died April 25, 2008, in New York, NY. Educator, administrator, anthologist, poet, and author. As the founder and director of the Writer's Voice and the arts and humanities program of the national Young Men's Christian Association, Shinder offered young people affordable instruction in literary arts and skills that reportedly rivaled the offerings of some college writing programs. He gathered instructors from the top echelon of American literature; poets like Adrienne Rich and playwrights like Wendy Wasserstein taught classes for the Writer's Voice. He also provided creative young people with instruction in the visual and performing arts. Shinder was himself a poet and a lover of poetry. He edited several weighty poetry anthologies with themes such as fathers and sons, father and daughters, poems of the movies, and birthday poems. His nonfiction collections included a book of essays devoted to one poem: The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later (2006) was a tribute to beat poet Allen Ginsberg, for whom he had once worked as an assistant. In addition to poetry, Shinder was also a great admirer of the movies. In 1999 he became a director of the writing program at the Sundance Institute. His poetry anthologies include Lights, Camera, Poetry! American Movie Poems, the First Hundred Years (1996) and The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poems ThatInspire Them (2008), and he also edited several annual collections about what he considered to be the "best" American film writing of the year. Shinder was active in several areas of the literary community. He lectured at Bennington College, the New School University in New York City, and the Guggenheim Museum. He was a fellow at the Yaddo creative community for artists. He was the poetry editor of Brim: An Arts Journal and a contributing editor of the American Poetry Review. Shinder's own poetry has been published in at least two collections: Every Room We Ever Slept In (1993) and Among Women (2001).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, May 3, 2008, p. B11.