Cid Corman, an American poet, editor and translator who lived in Japan for nearly 40 years, has died after suffering a heart attack, his coeditor said Wednesday. He was 79.
Corman had been in a coma since he suffered the attack on Dec. 31 and died Friday at a hospital in Kyoto, his home for over 30 years, said Chuck Sandy, coeditor of an upcoming edition of Corman's poetry magazine.
Corman started his prolific literary life in his teens and published some 400 books of poetry, essays and translation. His final work included a fifth and final volume of his 750-poem series "OF," now pending publication.
In 1951, Corman started the literary journal Origin, providing an outlet for foreign poems and helping establish emerging talent. Among the poets he introduced in the magazine were Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov and Theodore Enslin.
In his final days, Corbin was also working on the upcoming sixth edition of Origin, Sandy said.
With his decades of experience in Japan, Corman translated work by legendary haiku poet Matsuo Basho.
The Associated Press