Phillip Lopate

Phillip Lopate
Born (1943-11-16) November 16, 1943
Brooklyn, New York, US
EducationColumbia University (BA)
Union Institute & University (PhD)
Occupations
  • Essayist
  • film critic
  • teacher
  • fiction writer
  • poet
Spouse
Carol Bergman (1964–1970)
  • Cheryl Cipriani (1991–present)
Children1
RelativesLeonard Lopate (brother)
Writing career
Genre
  • Fiction, essays, poetry, literary criticism
Notable works
  • Getting Personal (2003)
  • Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan (2005)
  • The Glorious American Essay (2020)

Phillip Lopate (born November 16, 1943) is an American essayist, film critic, fiction writer, and poet.

Early life

He was born in Brooklyn to Jewish parents, Fran Beslow and Albert Lopate; his father was an aspiring writer whose mother tongue was Yiddish.[1][2][3] His parents ran a candy store together and had a tumultuous marriage, and he was raised in relative poverty in tenements in Williamsburg.[2][3] As a teenager, he joined the local Orthodox Jewish choir and considered becoming a cantor.[2][4]

He graduated with a BA degree from Columbia University in 1964, where he edited The Columbia Review.[4][5] He received his doctorate from Union Institute & University in 1979.[6] Lopate is the younger brother of radio host Leonard Lopate.[7][8]

Career

Teaching

Lopate worked as a writer-in-the-schools for twelve years and his memoir Being With Children came out of his association with the artists-in-the-school organization Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W).[9][10] Lopate coordinated T&W's first project (at Manhattan's P.S. 75), the model for which led to similar programs in all 50 states.[11]

He has taught creative writing and literature to undergraduate and graduate students at several institutions, including Bennington College, Fordham University, Cooper Union, the University of Houston, and New York University.[12][4] He held the Adams Chair at Hofstra University until 2011, where he was also professor of English.[13][14] He was a professor of writing at Columbia University until he retired in 2023.[4][15]

Writing

Lopate's essays, fiction, and poetry have appeared in several Pushcart Prize annuals,[16] as well as The Paris Review,[17] Harper's Magazine,[18] Ploughshares,[19] The Threepenny Review,[20] Harvard Educational Review,[21] Boulevard,[22] DoubleTake,[23] and Creative Nonfiction,[24] among others.[16]

Lopate has written for the New York Times Sophisticated Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, European Travel and Life, Sidestreets of the World, and American Way.[25]

Lopate has written about architecture and urbanism for Metropolis, The New York Times, DoubleTake, Preservation, and Cite.[26][27][28] He wrote a bimonthly architectural column for Seven Days. He has served as a committee member for the Municipal Art Society and as a consultant for Ric Burns' PBS documentary New York: A Documentary Film.[27][29]

Lopate on CUNY TV's City Cinematheque, 2023

He has written about movies for The New York Times, Vogue, Esquire, Film Comment, Film Quarterly, Cinemabook, Threepenny Review, Tikkun, American Film, The Normal School, and the anthology The Movie That Changed My Life, among others.[30][31][32][33][34] A volume of his selected movie criticism, Totally Tenderly Tragically, was published by Doubleday Anchor in 1998.[35] He edited an anthology of American film criticism from the silent era to present day, entitled American Movie Critics: From Silents Until Now, which was published in March 2006 by Library of America.[36]

Personal life

He has been married twice. In 1964, he married Carol Bergman; they divorced in 1970.[37][38][39]

In 1991, he married his second wife Cheryl Cipriani, with whom he has a daughter.[18] The couple raised their daughter in the Conservative Jewish Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes.[4]

Awards and fellowships

Lopate has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and two New York Foundation for the Arts grants.[40] He also received a Christopher Medal (for Being With Children),[41] received the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best Book of Nonfiction (for Bachelorhood),[42] and was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay (for Portrait of My Body). His anthology Writing New York received an honorable mention from the Municipal Art Society's Brendan Gill Prize and a citation from the New York Society Library. He was also a Lila Wallace Foundation writer-in-residence. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5]

Publications

Nonfiction

Fiction

Poetry

  • The Eyes Don't Always Want to Stay Open (Sun Press, 1972)
  • The Daily Round (Sun Press, 1976)
  • At the End of the Day (Marsh Hawk Press, 2010)[12]

Anthologies

As contributor

As editor

  • Journal of a Living Experiment (Teachers & Writers Press, 1979)[11][10]
  • The Art of the Personal Essay (Doubleday Anchor, 1994)[59]
  • Writing New York (Library of America, 1998)[60]
  • The Anchor Essay Annual: The Best of 1997 (Anchor Books, 1997)[61]
  • The Anchor Essay Annual: The Best of 1998 (Anchor Books, 1998)[62]
  • The Art of the Essay: 1999 (Anchor Books, 1999)[63]
  • American Movie Critics (Library of America, 2006)[36]
  • The Prince of Minor Writers: The Selected Essays of Max Beerbohm (New York Review Books, 2015)[64]
  • The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (Pantheon Books, 2020)[65][66]
  • The Golden Age of the American Essay (Anchor Books, 2021)[67]
  • The Contemporary American Essay (Anchor Books, 2021)[68]

References

  1. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (1997). "The Story of My Father". Creative Nonfiction. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Silverstein, Andrew (August 7, 2025). "How a Jewish mother from Flatbush became America's most recognizable Italian on TV". The Forward. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Haberman, Clyde (August 6, 2025). "Leonard Lopate, Longtime New York Radio Host, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Shapiro, Susan (June 2, 2023). "The Dark Angel of Nonfiction". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  5. 1 2 Shohfi, Jessie (June 26, 2026). "Professor Phillip Lopate Is Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters". Columbia University School of the Arts. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  6. ↑ Dimambro, Angeline (June 26, 2026). "The American Academy of Arts and Letters Honors Professor Phillip Lopate". Columbia University School of the Arts. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  7. ↑ Bui, Phong (August 20, 2024). "LEONARD LOPATE with Phong Bui". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  8. ↑ Franklin, Ruth (May 11, 2017). "'Just Make Sure You Don't Forget'". The New York Review of Books. Vol. 64, no. 8. ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  9. ↑ Lyttle, Paula (October 16, 2018). "A short interview with Phillip Lopate". Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  10. 1 2 Kohl, Herbert (Spring 2008). "T&W In The Beginning: Excerpts from Journal of a Living Experiment" (PDF). Teachers & Writers Magazine. Vol. 39, no. 3. p. 9.
  11. 1 2 Hechinger, Fred M. (January 18, 1983). "About Education". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  12. 1 2 "Phillip Lopate". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Accomplishments". Hofstra University Pride Newsletter. May 2006. Archived from the original on September 5, 2006.
  14. ↑ "Lopate, Phillip, 1943-". Library of Congress. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Phillip Lopate in Conversation with Martha McPhee". The Center for Nonfiction. October 13, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
  16. 1 2 "Phillip Lopate". Center for the Humanities. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Phillip Lopate". The Paris Review. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  18. 1 2 Lopate, Phillip (September 2023). "The Love of My Wife". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Phillip Lopate". Ploughshares. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  20. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (Fall 2002). "An Archaeological Inquest". The Threepenny Review. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Phillip Lopate Archives". Harvard Review. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  22. ↑ Trueheart, Charles (May 16, 1989). "HARD LESSONS IN THE SUICIDE OF A TEACHER". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  23. ↑ "At Work [...]". MSU Libraries Finding Aids.
  24. ↑ "Phillip Lopate". Creative Nonfiction. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Phillip Lopate" Archived January 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Hofstra University. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  26. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (January 1, 2006). "Ada Louise Huxtable: History". Metropolis. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  27. 1 2 "Philip Lopate". Hofstra University. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009.
  28. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (Winter 1984). "Pursuing the Unicorn: Public Space in Houston". Cite. No. 8. pp. 18–21.
  29. ↑ "Phillip Lopate". IMDb. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  30. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (September 1990). "Has David Lynch Peaked?". Esquire. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  31. ↑ "Phillip Lopate". Film Comment. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  32. ↑ Anfinson, Pat (April 26, 2007). "Phillip Lopate to give public reading". St. Olaf College News. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  33. ↑ "Volume 8, Issue 1, Spring 2015". The Normal School. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  34. ↑ "The Movie That Changed My Life". Publishers Weekly. November 4, 1991. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  35. 1 2 Jacobs, Diane (November 29, 1998). "Waiting for Godard". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  36. 1 2 Norris, Gloria (Spring 2006). "American Movie Critics: From the Silents Until Now". Directors Guild of America. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  37. ↑ "Carol Ascher". Cleveland Public Library. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  38. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (1998). "Totally, Tenderly, Tragically". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  39. ↑ Ascher, Carol (1989). "On Becoming Carol Ascher". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 10 (3): 32–35. doi:10.2307/3346439. ISSN 0160-9009.
  40. ↑ "Phillip Lopate". Guggenheim Fellowship. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  41. ↑ "Being with Children". The New Press. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  42. ↑ Kilian, Karl (October 1, 1986). "Texas Primer: The Texas Institute of Letters". Texas Monthly. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  43. ↑ "Books Received". The Journal of Negro Education. 46 (1): 94–97. 1977. ISSN 0022-2984.
  44. ↑ "BACHELORHOOD: Tales of the Metropolis". Kirkus Reviews. October 1, 1981.
  45. ↑ Brussat, Frederic; Brussat, Mary Ann. "Against Joie de Vivre by Phillip Lopate". Spirituality & Practice. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  46. ↑ "PORTRAIT OF MY BODY: Personal Essays". Kirkus Reviews. August 15, 1996. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  47. ↑ Opaterny, Ricky (December 19, 2013). "Getting Personal: Selected Writings". Rain Taxi. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  48. ↑ Sifton, Sam (April 25, 2004). "City of Spires and Masts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  49. ↑ Kelly, David (June 8, 2009). "'Notes on Sontag'". ArtsBeat. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  50. ↑ "PORTRAIT INSIDE MY HEAD". Kirkus Reviews. December 1, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  51. ↑ "TO SHOW AND TO TELL". Kirkus Reviews. November 15, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  52. ↑ Hollars, B.J. "Book Review: A Mother's Tale by Phillip Lopate". The Los Angeles Review. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  53. ↑ Thompson, Bill (February 24, 2024). "Life and Form: On Phillip Lopate's "A Year and a Day"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  54. ↑ Peary, Gerald (December 2, 2024). "Book Review: 'My Affair with Art House Cinema' - Still Hot and Heavy". The Arts Fuse. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  55. ↑ "A WASHINGTON IRVING SKETCH BOOK". Kirkus Reviews. April 20, 2026.
  56. ↑ "CONFESSIONS OF SUMMER". Kirkus Reviews. June 1, 1979. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  57. ↑ Eder, Richard (March 15, 1987). "The Rug Merchant by Phillip Lopate (Viking: $16.95; 218 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  58. ↑ "TWO MARRIAGES". Kirkus Reviews. July 1, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  59. ↑ Krusoe, Jim (February 27, 1994). "The Magic in Grumpy Rambling : THE ART OF THE PERSONAL ESSAY, Edited by Phillip Lopate (Anchor Books/Doubleday: $30; 768 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  60. ↑ Wertz, Rich (December 16, 1998). "Review of Writing New York". Foreword Reviews. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  61. ↑ "The Anchor Essay Annual by Phillip Lopate: 9780385484138". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  62. ↑ "THE ANCHOR ESSAY ANNUAL: The Best of 1998". Kirkus Reviews. September 1, 1998. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  63. ↑ "The Art of the Essay, 1999 by Phillip Lopate". Publishers Weekly. September 13, 1999. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  64. ↑ "THE PRINCE OF MINOR WRITERS". Kirkus Reviews. March 15, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  65. ↑ Williams, John (November 25, 2020). "'The Glorious American Essay,' From Benjamin Franklin to David Foster Wallace". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  66. ↑ "THE GLORIOUS AMERICAN ESSAY". Kirkus Reviews. September 15, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  67. ↑ "THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AMERICAN ESSAY". Kirkus Reviews. February 15, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  68. ↑ "THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ESSAY". Kirkus Reviews. June 15, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
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