Leo Connellan

[1] Mainly in the 1950s, when he was between the ages of 19 and 32, Connellan travelled the contiguous 48 states, going back and forth between New York City and California.

[2] At age 32, he married his wife Nancy, and took work as a salesman after his daughter Amy was born, moving his family to Connecticut in 1969 to take over a new sales territory in New England.

[5] During the 1950s, Leo Connellan lived in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, which puts him in the Beat Generation of poets.

[10] Connellan won the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America[11] and served as Connecticut's second Poet Laureate from 1996 until his death.

[5] His duties in this post were little defined, but Connellan said he saw promoting poetry in schools and supporting new writers as among his most important responsibilities.

Cover of Crossing America, considered by many to be Connellan at his best.