Samuel Hazo

The author of books of poetry, fiction, essays and plays, Samuel Hazo is the founder and director of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University, where he taught for forty-three years. From 1950 until 1957 he served in the United States Marine Corps, completing his tour as a captain. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Arts degree from Duquesne University and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2003 a selective collection of his poems, Just Once, received the Maurice English Poetry Award. He has been awarded twelve honorary doctorates. He was honored with the Griffin Award for Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater, and was chosen to receive his tenth honorary doctorate from the university in 2008. A National Book Award finalist, he was named Pennsylvania’s first State Poet by Governor Robert Casey in 1993, and he served until 2003. 
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Some of his previous works are When Not Yet Is Now, They Rule the World, Like a Man Gone Mad, and Sexes: the Marriage Dialogues (Poetry); The Time Remaining and This Part of the World (Fiction); Watching Fire, Watching Rain and Tell it to the Marines (Drama); The Stoke of the Pen and Outspokenly Yours (Essays); Smithereened Apart (Critique of the poetry of Hart Crane); The Pittsburgh that Stays With You (Memoir awarded the 2018 IPPY national bronze citation for creative non-fiction); and The World Within the Word: Maritain and the Poet (Critique). His translations include Denis de Rougemont's The Growl of Deeper Waters, Nadia Tueni’s Lebanon: Twenty Poems for One Love and Adonis' The Pages of Day and Night.

Praise for If Nobody Calls, I'm Not Home

"I had such a good time reading If I'm Not Home, Nobody Call. Samuel Hazo has written a unique, moving and insightful epistolary novel filled with honest emotions about the very meaning of life. As Bim Nakely, the main character, writes letters to both famous people and family members, we share her compelling journey as she explores her past and considers her future. A beautiful read." —Eva Marie Saint, Academy Award Recipient

"Samuel Hazo’s lovely novel-in-letters features Bim Nakely, an outspoken woman who writes to people, some famous and some not, who have caught her attention through much of the twentieth century.  Her letter-writing is an exercise in confronting and pondering the inevitable—her oncoming demise. Even though she is weakening, she remains of good heart as she sorts through her feelings. We come to know her so well that we laugh, cry, worry, forgive but most of all accept a woman who is a stand-in for people we’ve loved." —Kathleen George, Novelist​​