Famed San Francisco poet and activist Jack Hirschman dies

Jack Hirschman, a former poet, activist, and famous beat generation proponent from San Francisco, died on Sunday at his home in the city, said the organization where he was co-founder and director. He was 87 years old.

On behalf of the World Poetry Movement, Ataol Behramoglu said the organization learned of Hirschman’s death just minutes before his scheduled speech in the last of its regular online interviews as WPM board coordinator.

“[It] is a big shock for us close friends and colleagues, ”wrote Behramoglu. “It was a great loss to American and world poetry.”

City Lights Books, Green Apple Books, and many others in San Francisco paid tribute to Hirschman on Twitter when they heard the news.

“Jack was regularly visiting our store and publishing office prior to the pandemic and brightening our day with a joke or story,” tweeted City Lights. “His presence in North Beach is so much missed. To this day, he was constantly reading poetry at various virtual events. We love you, Jack. “

Born in New York City, Hirschman started as an editor at Associated Press and later taught at UCLA in the 1970s before being fired for encouraging his students to resist drafting during the Vietnam War. Shortly thereafter, he moved to North Beach, where he wrote and published his first volume of poetry, “A Correspondence of Americans”, and studied the literary scene at Caffe Trieste and City Lights.

Hirschman was deputy editor of the left-wing literary magazine “Left Curve”, founded the Union of Left Writers of San Francisco and, in addition to his own extensive poetry, translated dozens of international works into English, in particular the poems of a young Joseph Stalin.

will miss Jack Hirschman’s presence in the world. My condolences to my dear wife. https://t.co/VlybMoAFDp

– Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) August 22, 2021

In 2006 he was named a Poet Prize Winner and in the same year launched the San Francisco International Poetry Festival. Three years later he became a poet in residence at the San Francisco Public Library.