We are happy to announce a new addition to our collections: the Carolyn Grassi Papers!
This collection presents a unique look into the personal and professional life of a local poet.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Carolyn Grassi walked many avenues in life before dedicating herself as a full-time poet. As a young woman, Grassi was a member of the Maryknoll Sisters, a Catholic institute where she practiced meditation and worked among disadvantaged communities in New York. After leaving the Maryknoll Sisters to marry Joseph Grassi, moving to California, and having two sons, Grassi earned a Master of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration at SJSU. She taught political science and philosophy courses at several California community colleges and also worked with Stanford Research Institute International, as Director of Continuing Education for Santa Clara University, and in various consulting roles.
Carolyn Grassi finally heeded the call to poetry in the 1980s, encouraged by Naomi Clark of Poetry Center San José and others. To date, she has published six books of poetry. The latest, Memories and Meditations, was released just last July. Her writing has won her an Ingram Merrill Foundation Writing Grant Award and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry. As a poet, Grassi has led numerous workshops and readings with Poetry Center San José and other organizations across the country.
One strength of the collection is Grassi’s extensive correspondence, primarily made up of connections she forged in seeking the support of fellow writers, publishers, and friends. Her correspondence reflects the difficulty of finding an audience, editors, and publishing opportunities as an independent poet, featuring rejection letters and frank discussion of the frustration and doubt that many writers experience. That said, Grassi’s professional outreach sometimes developed into colorful personal friendships that fostered her creative spirit. Her letters offer up her personality as much as they reveal the challenges of pursuing poetry as a career.
Last April, materials from this collection were showcased in our exhibit San José State University’s Legacy of Poetry. Among these was a draft of Grassi’s poem “Celibacy,” later published in her book Transparencies. The poem was originally written in the 1980s and submitted for a course she audited under poet Robert Hass. A handwritten note on one draft highlights the revision process: the poem went through ten drafts before reaching its published form. All ten of these drafts are preserved in her papers.
The collection also features a variety of other items that shed light on Grassi’s writing process. Galley proofs of some of her books contain detailed edits and comments made by Grassi and others. Likewise, her correspondence contains feedback on her poetry from friends and mentors. Early poetry journals and drafts of stories provide further insights into Grassi’s creative development, her meditative and sincere style, and her deeply curious approach to life.
Beyond her poetry, Grassi’s personal reflections and wide-ranging essays offer intimate windows into her experiences and worldview. The collection highlights many areas of Grassi’s interests -- from politics to spirituality, from the foreign to the familiar -- and the ways in which she interweaves them in her life as well as in her poetry.
The Carolyn Grassi Papers have truly been a pleasure to work with and I warmly invite you to explore them yourself.
To view materials from this collection, please make an appointment by contacting us at special.collections@sjsu.edu.
Post written by Alona Hazen, Special Collections & Archives Student Assistant.
We are happy to announce a new addition to our collections: the Carolyn Grassi Papers!
This collection presents a unique look into the personal and professional life of a local poet.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Carolyn Grassi walked many avenues in life before dedicating herself as a full-time poet. As a young woman, Grassi was a member of the Maryknoll Sisters, a Catholic institute where she practiced meditation and worked among disadvantaged communities in New York. After leaving the Maryknoll Sisters to marry Joseph Grassi, moving to California, and having two sons, Grassi earned a Master of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration at SJSU. She taught political science and philosophy courses at several California community colleges and also worked with Stanford Research Institute International, as Director of Continuing Education for Santa Clara University, and in various consulting roles.
Carolyn Grassi finally heeded the call to poetry in the 1980s, encouraged by Naomi Clark of Poetry Center San José and others. To date, she has published six books of poetry. The latest, Memories and Meditations, was released just last July. Her writing has won her an Ingram Merrill Foundation Writing Grant Award and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry. As a poet, Grassi has led numerous workshops and readings with Poetry Center San José and other organizations across the country.
One strength of the collection is Grassi’s extensive correspondence, primarily made up of connections she forged in seeking the support of fellow writers, publishers, and friends. Her correspondence reflects the difficulty of finding an audience, editors, and publishing opportunities as an independent poet, featuring rejection letters and frank discussion of the frustration and doubt that many writers experience. That said, Grassi’s professional outreach sometimes developed into colorful personal friendships that fostered her creative spirit. Her letters offer up her personality as much as they reveal the challenges of pursuing poetry as a career.
Last April, materials from this collection were showcased in our exhibit San José State University’s Legacy of Poetry. Among these was a draft of Grassi’s poem “Celibacy,” later published in her book Transparencies. The poem was originally written in the 1980s and submitted for a course she audited under poet Robert Hass. A handwritten note on one draft highlights the revision process: the poem went through ten drafts before reaching its published form. All ten of these drafts are preserved in her papers.
The collection also features a variety of other items that shed light on Grassi’s writing process. Galley proofs of some of her books contain detailed edits and comments made by Grassi and others. Likewise, her correspondence contains feedback on her poetry from friends and mentors. Early poetry journals and drafts of stories provide further insights into Grassi’s creative development, her meditative and sincere style, and her deeply curious approach to life.
Beyond her poetry, Grassi’s personal reflections and wide-ranging essays offer intimate windows into her experiences and worldview. The collection highlights many areas of Grassi’s interests -- from politics to spirituality, from the foreign to the familiar -- and the ways in which she interweaves them in her life as well as in her poetry.
The Carolyn Grassi Papers have truly been a pleasure to work with and I warmly invite you to explore them yourself.
To view materials from this collection, please make an appointment by contacting us at special.collections@sjsu.edu.
Post written by Alona Hazen, Special Collections & Archives Student Assistant.
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