Leonard Neufeldt

Leonard Neufeldt was born on November 3, 1937 in the Russian Mennonite settlement of Yarrow, British Columbia. From the 1920s until the 1940s, Yarrow was settled by European Mennonites who had fled the Soviet Union. Neufeldt’s father was a businessman who later became one of the civic leaders in the community. Neufeldt spent his childhood exploring the mountain forests of the Upper Fraser Valley and helping his family manage the five acres of raspberries that his father owned. The family participated in the activities of the Yarrow Mennonite Brethren church, which was the dominant institution in the village.

Neufeldt completed his early education in Yarrow and Chilliwack, and then proceeded to receive his B.A. in English at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario in 1961. He went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. in English and History and the University of Illinois in 1962 and 1966. He married his wife Mera Louise Klassen of Winnipeg 10 days before moving to Urbana, Illinois in 1961. Neufeldt became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1969.

Neufeldt has taught at The University of Illinois, University of Washington, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, University of Texas, Princeton University, Purdue University, and the Universistät Hamburg in Germany.

Neufeldt began to write poetry after he started teaching at the University of Washington, and has continued writing ever since. He has published five collections of poetry, and authored and/or edited four works of nonfiction. His academic interests include the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

Neufeldt’s poetry reflects his Mennonite heritage and explores his upbringing in Yarrow. He describes his surroundings, his family, and everyday life. In Rasberrying, Yarrow, and parts of Car Failure North of Nîmes, Neufeldt discusses the Mennonites who influenced and shaped him through close examination of his own life, the people in it, and the influence of the environment that surrounded him. The Canadian writer Di Brandt has described Neufeldt’s writing as poetry with “tenderness…not the softness of innocence or naiveté, but of humanity and grief and wonder and amazement.”

Numerous articles, essays, and over 200 of Neufeldt’s poems have appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies in the United States and Canada. Neufeldt spent time as a consulting editor for Humor: International Journal of Humor Research. He also served as associate editor for the Purdue University Press Poetry Series from 1988-1994.

Most recently, Neufeldt was awarded the Heritage Award for his book entitled Before We Were the Land’s – Yarrow, British Columbia , Mennonite Promise in 2003. He was also awarded the “1983 Best Academic Book” for The House of Emerson by Choice Magazine. For several years he served as chair of Purdue University Press.

Neufeldt and his wife Mera currently reside in Gig Harbor, Washington.


Works Cited:

Biography Resource Center. 3 Nov 2005. Narrative Biography Display. 3 Nov 2005. http://www.galegroup.com.

Hostetler, Ann. “Leonard Neufeldt.” A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003. 33.

Neufeldt, Leonard N. Car Failure North of Nimes. Ontario: Black Moss Press, 1994.

--------. E-mail Interviews. 3 Nov. 2005, 11 Nov. 2005 and 15 Nov. 2005.

--------. Rasberrying. Ontario: Black Moss Press, 1991.

--------. Yarrow. Ontario: Black Moss Press, 1993.

                                                                             
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The contents of these pages are posted with the permission of the author.

Much thanks goes to Leonard Neufeldt for all the help contributed to the completion of this Web site.



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