Keith Botsford (March 29, 1928 – August 19, 2018) was an American/European writer, Professor Emeritus at Boston University and editor of News from the Republic of Letters.
His father returned to the United States early in 1939, and together with his mother and brother, the Botsfords were expelled from Italy on the outbreak of World War II.
Botsford then went on to study composition at the Manhattan School of Music, Japanese at Columbia University, and law at Holborn College in London.
Botsford's academic career, often combined with administrative tasks, began at Bard College in 1953, where he met his lifelong friend Saul Bellow.
He worked with the Congress for Cultural Freedom spending three years in Latin America, based in Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City.
After serving at P.E.N., Botsford was invited to become the Director of the Ford Foundation's National Translation Center at the University of Texas, Austin (1965–1970),[5] where he also was Professor of English.
He lived his last years in Costa Rica in a RIBA Award-winning house on the Caribbean coast,[7] designed by his architect son, Gianni Botsford.