Craig Arnold (November 16, 1967 – April 27, 2009) was an American poet and professor. His first book of poems, Shells (1999), was selected by W. S. Merwin for the Yale Series of Younger Poets. His many honors include the 2005 Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize Fellowship in literature, The Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, an Alfred Hodder Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a MacDowell Fellowship.
Biography
Arnold taught poetry at the University of Wyoming. His poems have appeared in anthologies including The Best American Poetry 1998 and The Bread Loaf Anthology of New American Poets, and in literary journals including Poetry, The Paris Review, Denver Quarterly, Barrow Street, New Republic and Yale Review. Arnold grew up in the United States, Europe and Asia. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1990 and his Ph.D. degree in creative writing from the University of Utah in 2001. He was also a musician, and performed as a member of the band Iris.
Disappearance
On April 27, 2009, Arnold went missing on the small volcanic island of Kuchinoerabujima, Japan. He went for a solo hike to explore an active volcano on the island and never returned to the inn where he was staying. While Japanese law mandates government-backed searches for three days, on April 30, 2009, the Japanese government agreed to extend the search an additional three days. Arnold was not found, and the search was then picked up by the international non-governmental organization 1st Special Response Group. Arnold's trail was found near a high cliff, and he was presumed to have died from a fall near the date of his disappearance.
A collection of poetry, Love, an Index, written by Arnold's partner Rebecca Lindenberg and telling the story of their relationship, was published in March 2012.
A detailed account of Arnold's last few days and the extensive search, entitled An Exchange for Fire, was written by Christopher Blasdel and appeared in the anthology My Postwar Life: New Writings from Japan and Okinawa, published by Chicago Quarterly Review Books, January, 2012.
Bibliography
Collections
Arnold, Craig. 1999. Shells. Yale series of younger poets, v. 93. New Haven: Yale University Press, Arnold, Craig. 2008. Made Flesh. Keene, NY: Ausable Press.
Translations
fleischgeworden (selected poems, translated into German by Jan Volker Röhnert, luxbooks, 2008)