Black and white headshot of writer John Updike.

An acclaimed and award-winning writer of fiction, essays, and reviews, John Updike also wrote poetry for most of his life. Growing up in Pennsylvania, his early inspiration to be a writer came from watching his mother, an aspiring writer, submit her work to magazines. In an interview Updike stated, “I began as a writer of light verse, and have tried to carry over into my serious or lyric verse something of the strictness and liveliness of the lesser form.” In his teens, he was already publishing poems in magazines. Though he knew that he would not make a living by writing only poetry, his writing career began in 1954 when the New Yorker accepted one of his poems, followed by a short story. His first book, The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (1958), was a collection of poems.

Updike’s career as a writer has been remarkably prolific and varied. In addition to poetry, his work included novels (The Witches of Eastwick, Rabbit Redux, and Rabbit, Run), short stories, music criticism (Concerts at Castle Hill), and essays on art (Just Looking: Essays on Art) and golf (Golf Dreams: Writing on Golf). His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (for both Rabbit Is Rich in 1981, and Rabbit at Rest in 1991), the American Book Award for fiction, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for both fiction and criticism.

His poetry, starting as light verse, encompasses a variety of forms and topics. His poetry was praised for his wit and precision, and for his ability to focus on common subjects and on places near and distant—from Shillington, Pennsylvania (the town of his childhood), to Venice, Italy. His collections of poetry include Facing Nature: Poems, Collected Poems: 1953–1993, and Americana and Other Poems (2001).

Bibliography

NOVELS

  • The Poorhouse Fair (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1959, with an introduction by Updike, Ballantine (New York, NY), 2004.
  • Rabbit, Run (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1960.
  • The Centaur, Knopf (New York, NY), 1963.
  • Of the Farm, Knopf (New York, NY), 1965, reprinted, Ballantine (New York, NY), 2004.
  • The Poorhouse Fair [and] Rabbit, Run, Modern Library (New York, NY), 1965.
  • Couples, Knopf (New York, NY), 1968.
  • The Indian, Blue Cloud Abbey (Marvin, SD), 1971.
  • Rabbit Redux (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1971.
  • A Month of Sundays, Knopf (New York, NY), 1975.
  • Marry Me: A Romance, Knopf (New York, NY), 1976.
  • The Coup, Knopf, (New York, NY) 1978.
  • Rabbit Is Rich (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1981.
  • Rabbit Is Rich/Rabbit Redux/Rabbit, Run (also see below), Quality Paperback Book Club, 1981.
  • The Witches of Eastwick, Knopf (New York, NY), 1984.
  • Roger's Version, Knopf (New York, NY), 1986.
  • S., Knopf (New York, NY), 1988.
  • Rabbit at Rest, Knopf (New York, NY), 1990.
  • Memories of the Ford Administration, Knopf (New York, NY), 1992.
  • Brazil, Knopf (New York, NY), 1994.
  • Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels (contains Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit, Run, and Rabbit at Rest), Knopf/Everymans (New York, NY), 1995, published as The Rabbit Novels, Ballantine (New York, NY), 2003.
  • In the Beauty of the Lilies, Knopf (New York, NY), 1996.
  • Toward the End of Time, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.
  • Gertrude and Claudius, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.
  • Seek My Face, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.
  • Villages, Knopf (New York, NY), 2004.

POETRY

  • The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (also see below), Harper (New York, NY), 1958, published as Hoping for a Hoopoe, Gollancz (London, England), 1959.
  • Telephone Poles and Other Poems (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1963.
  • Verse: The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures/Telephone Poles and Other Poems, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1965.
  • The Angels (poem; limited edition), King and Queen Press (Pensacola, FL), 1968.
  • Bath after Sailing (poem; limited edition), Pendulum Press (Monroe, CT), 1968.
  • Midpoint and Other Poems, Knopf (New York, NY), 1969.
  • Seventy Poems, Penguin (New York, NY), 1972.
  • Six Poems (limited edition), Oliphant Press, 1973.
  • Cunts (poem; limited edition), Frank Hallman, 1974.
  • Tossing and Turning, Knopf (New York, NY), 1977.
  • Sixteen Sonnets (limited edition), Halty Ferguson (Cambridge, MA), 1979.
  • Five Poems (limited edition), Bits Press (Cleveland, OH), 1980.
  • Spring Trio (limited edition), Palaemon Press (Winston-Salem, NC), 1982.
  • Jester's Dozen (limited edition), Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1984.
  • Facing Nature: Poems, Knopf (New York, NY), 1985.
  • Collected Poems: 1953-1993, Knopf (New York, NY), 1993.
  • Americana and Other Poems, Knopf (New York, NY), 2001.

SHORT STORIES

  • The Same Door, Knopf (New York, NY), 1959.
  • Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1962.
  • Olinger Stories: A Selection, Vintage (New York, NY), 1964.
  • The Music School, Knopf (New York, NY), 1966.
  • Bech: A Book, Knopf (New York, NY), 1970.
  • Museums and Women and Other Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1972.
  • Warm Wine: An Idyll, Albondocani Press (New York, NY), 1973.
  • Couples: A Short Story, Halty Ferguson (Cambridge, MA), 1976.
  • From the Journal of a Leper, Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1978.
  • Too Far to Go: The Maples Stories, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1979.
  • Three Illuminations in the Life of an American Author (short story), Targ (New York, NY), 1979.
  • Problems and Other Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1979.
  • Your Lover Just Called: Stories of Joan and Richard Maple, Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1980.
  • The Chaste Planet, Metacom (Worcester, MA), 1980.
  • People One Knows: Interviews with Insufficiently Famous Americans, Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1980.
  • Invasion of the Book Envelopes, Ewert (Concord, MA), 1981.
  • Bech Is Back, Knopf (New York, NY), 1982.
  • The Beloved (short story), Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1982.
  • Confessions of a Wild Bore, Tamazunchale Press, 1984.
  • More Stately Mansions, Nouveau Press (Jackson, MS), 1987.
  • Trust Me: Short Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1987.
  • The Afterlife and Other Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1994.
  • Bech at Bay: A Quasi-Novel, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.
  • A & P, Harcourt (Fort Worth, TX), 1998.
  • Licks of Love: Short Stories and a Sequel, "Rabbit Remembered," Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.
  • The Complete Henry Bech: Twenty Stories, with an introduction by Malcolm Bradbury, Knopf (New York, NY), 2001.
  • The Early Stories: 1953-1975, Knopf (New York, NY), 2004.

ESSAYS

  • Assorted Prose, Knopf (New York, NY), 1965.
  • On Meeting Authors, Wickford (Newburyport, MA), 1968.
  • A Good Place, Aloe (Atlanta, GA), 1973.
  • Picked-up Pieces, Knopf (New York, NY), 1975.
  • Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1977.
  • Talk from the Fifties, Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1979.
  • Ego and Art in Walt Whitman, Targ (New York, NY), 1980.
  • Hawthorne's Creed, Targ (New York, NY), 1981.
  • Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism, Knopf (New York, NY), 1983.
  • Emersonianism, Bits Press, 1984.
  • Just Looking: Essays on Art, Knopf (New York, NY), 1989.
  • Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism, Knopf (New York, NY), 1991.
  • Concerts at Castle Hill (music criticism), Lord John (Northridge, CA), 1993.
  • Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf, Knopf (New York, NY), 1996.
  • More Matter: Essays and Criticism, Knopf (New York, NY), 1999.
  • Still Looking: Essays on American Art, Knopf (New York, NY), 2005.

OTHER

  • (Adapter with Warren Chappell) The Magic Flute (juvenile fiction; adapted from libretto of same title by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), Knopf (New York, NY), 1962.
  • (Adapter with Chappell) The Ring (juvenile fiction; adapted from libretto by Richard Wagner), Knopf (New York, NY), 1964.
  • A Child's Calendar (juvenile poetry), Knopf (New York, NY), 1965, new edition with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1999.
  • Three Texts from Early Ipswich (historical pageant; produced in Ipswich, MA, 1968), Seventeenth Century Day Committee of the Town of Ipswich, 1968.
  • (Adapter) Bottom's Dream (juvenile fiction; adapted from William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream), Knopf (New York, NY), 1969.
  • (Editor) David Levine, Pens and Needles: Literary Caricatures, Gambit (Ipswich, MA), 1970.
  • A Good Place: Being a Personal Account of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Aloe Editions (New York, NY), 1973.
  • Buchanan Dying (play; produced in Lancaster, MA, 1976), Knopf (New York, NY), 1974.
  • (Author of introduction) Henry Green, Loving, Living, Party Going, Penguin Books, 1978.
  • (Author of introduction) Bruno Schulz, Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass, Penguin Books, 1979.
  • (Author of afterword) Edmund Wilson, Memoirs of Hecate County, Nonpareil (Boston, MA), 1980.
  • (Editor with Shannon Ravenel and author of introduction) The Best American Short Stories: 1984, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1984.
  • Self-Consciousness: Memoirs, Knopf (New York, NY), 1989.
  • The Alligators (children's fiction), Creative Education (Mankato, IL), 1990.
  • (With Mary Steichen Calderone and Edward Steichen) The First Picture Book: Everyday Things for Babies, Fotofolio/Whitney Museum of American Art, 1991.
  • (Author of introduction) The Art of Mickey Mouse, edited by Craig Yoe and Janet Morra-Yoe, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1991.
  • (Author of introduction) Heroes and Anti-Heroes, Random House (New York, NY), 1991.
  • (Author of introduction) Henry Green, Surviving, Viking (New York, NY), 1993.
  • A Helpful Alphabet of Friendly Objects (juvenile poetry; photographs by David Updike), Knopf (New York, NY), 1994.
  • (Author of introduction) Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1996.
  • (Author of introduction) Herman Melville, The Complete Shorter Fiction, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.
  • (Author of introduction) Jill Krementz, The Writer's Desk, Random House (New York, NY), 1997.
  • (Editor) A Century of Arts and Letters: The History of the National Institute of Arts and Letters as Told, Decade by Decade, by Eleven Members, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1998.
  • (Editor with Katrina Kenison, also selector and author of introduction) The Best American Short Stories of the Century, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1999, expanded edition, 2000.
  • (Author of introduction) Max Beerbohm, Seven Men, New York Review Books (New York, NY), 2000.
  • (Editor) Karl Schapiro, Selected Poems, Library of America (New York, NY), 2003.

Also author with Günther Schuller of words and music for The Fisherman and His Wife, performed in Boston, MA, 1970. "Talk of the Town" reporter, New Yorker, 1955-57. Contributor to books, including Martin Levin, editor, Five Boyhoods, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1962; contributor of translations to Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Poems: 1923-1967, edited by Norman Thomas di Giovanni, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1972. Contributor of short stories, book reviews, and poems to New Yorker and other periodicals. Updike's papers are housed in the Houghton Library, Harvard University.