Arts & Literature
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Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me
A staggering memoir from New York Times-bestselling author Ada Calhoun tracing her fraught relationship with her father and their shared obsession with a great poet
When Ada Calhoun stumbled upon old cassette tapes of interviews her father, celebrated art critic Peter Schjeldahl, had conducted for his never-completed biography of poet Frank O'Hara, she set out to finish the book her father had started forty years earlier.
As a lifelong O'Hara fan who grew up amid his bohemian cohort in the East Village, Calhoun thought the project would be easy, even fun, but the deeper she dove, the more she had to face not just O'Hara's past, but also her father's, and her own.
The result is a groundbreaking and kaleidoscopic memoir that weaves compelling literary history with a moving, honest, and tender story of a complicated father-daughter bond. Also a Poet explores what happens when we want to do better than our parents, yet fear what that might cost us; when we seek their approval, yet mistrust it.
In reckoning with her unique heritage, as well as providing new insights into the life of one of our most important poets, Calhoun offers a brave and hopeful meditation on parents and children, artistic ambition, and the complexities of what we leave behind.
When Ada Calhoun stumbled upon old cassette tapes of interviews her father, celebrated art critic Peter Schjeldahl, had conducted for his never-completed biography of poet Frank O'Hara, she set out to finish the book her father had started forty years earlier.
As a lifelong O'Hara fan who grew up amid his bohemian cohort in the East Village, Calhoun thought the project would be easy, even fun, but the deeper she dove, the more she had to face not just O'Hara's past, but also her father's, and her own.
The result is a groundbreaking and kaleidoscopic memoir that weaves compelling literary history with a moving, honest, and tender story of a complicated father-daughter bond. Also a Poet explores what happens when we want to do better than our parents, yet fear what that might cost us; when we seek their approval, yet mistrust it.
In reckoning with her unique heritage, as well as providing new insights into the life of one of our most important poets, Calhoun offers a brave and hopeful meditation on parents and children, artistic ambition, and the complexities of what we leave behind.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for Also a Poet
A July 2022 IndieNext Pick
"A grand slam of a new memoir…Also a Poet is packaged as a love triangle: father, daughter and O'Hara. It's actually a tetrahedron from which all kinds of creative characters pop forth. It's a big valentine to New York City past and present, and a contribution to literary scholarship, molten with soul." - New York Times Book Review
"Brave, blistering… Fierce, dissonant, yet compelling." - Washington Post
"A scintillating work of personal quest and cultural history….[Calhoun] writes with bracing vulnerability and a dreamy sweetness about her adolescence, light of touch but long on skill… [Also a Poet] shares a propulsive energy with such vivid oral histories as Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil's trippy "Please Kill Me" and Jean Stein's stylish "Edie." As Calhoun's earlier books attest, she's a hell of an observer, writing with flair and putting herself on a tightwire, a high-risk gamble that mostly results in high rewards." - Boston Globe
"Is Also a Poet a biography of Frank O'Hara? Of writer Ada Calhoun's father, art critic Peter Schjeldahl? Or, as its title page insists, is it Calhoun's memoir? Whatever it is, it's dazzling." - Star Tribune
"No one else could have written this brave, intimate memoir in which [Calhoun] insists on her own worthiness to speak and be heard. Also a Poet will appeal to readers who enjoy what Granville-Smith dismisses as "gossip," enjoy hybrid forms that bend genres, and admire authors who take you along with them as they figure things out. Calhoun and her book are more than interesting enough in their own right." - Chicago Review of Books
"Also a Poet is a mélange of cultural history and a poignant cri de coeur." - Oprah Daily
"Calhoun's voice is clear and cogent, a winning and personable guide." - Vogue, Best Books of 2022 So Far
"A beautiful book in what feels like a brand new genre." - Literary Hub,
A July 2022 IndieNext Pick
"A grand slam of a new memoir…Also a Poet is packaged as a love triangle: father, daughter and O'Hara. It's actually a tetrahedron from which all kinds of creative characters pop forth. It's a big valentine to New York City past and present, and a contribution to literary scholarship, molten with soul." - New York Times Book Review
"Brave, blistering… Fierce, dissonant, yet compelling." - Washington Post
"A scintillating work of personal quest and cultural history….[Calhoun] writes with bracing vulnerability and a dreamy sweetness about her adolescence, light of touch but long on skill… [Also a Poet] shares a propulsive energy with such vivid oral histories as Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil's trippy "Please Kill Me" and Jean Stein's stylish "Edie." As Calhoun's earlier books attest, she's a hell of an observer, writing with flair and putting herself on a tightwire, a high-risk gamble that mostly results in high rewards." - Boston Globe
"Is Also a Poet a biography of Frank O'Hara? Of writer Ada Calhoun's father, art critic Peter Schjeldahl? Or, as its title page insists, is it Calhoun's memoir? Whatever it is, it's dazzling." - Star Tribune
"No one else could have written this brave, intimate memoir in which [Calhoun] insists on her own worthiness to speak and be heard. Also a Poet will appeal to readers who enjoy what Granville-Smith dismisses as "gossip," enjoy hybrid forms that bend genres, and admire authors who take you along with them as they figure things out. Calhoun and her book are more than interesting enough in their own right." - Chicago Review of Books
"Also a Poet is a mélange of cultural history and a poignant cri de coeur." - Oprah Daily
"Calhoun's voice is clear and cogent, a winning and personable guide." - Vogue, Best Books of 2022 So Far
"A beautiful book in what feels like a brand new genre." - Literary Hub,
Readers Top Reviews
missmickee-bookre
“Also A Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, And Me” (2022) is a lively and vivid biographical portrayal of the late celebrated poet Frank O’Hara, his artistic and creative works remain interwoven in the current American contemporary art forms and literary expression and culture. Ada Calhoun is a notable NYT bestselling author and ghost writer of numerous non-fiction books. In this original book, Calhoun’s desire to produce an O’Hara authorized biography was evident, as she worked to complete this book with her father, the notable art critic for the New Yorker Peter Schjeldahl (1942-). After Calhoun discovered the forgotten O’Hara tapes, found in the musty basement storage unit of the family home at Saint Marks located in lower Manhattan East Village (2018), Calhoun learned that in the 1970’s her father had been contracted by Harper/Roe to write the first significant O’Hara biography. After his interview with O’Hara’s youngest sister Maureen Granville Smith (the executor of O’Hara’s literary estate) and waiting for promised written materials that were never mailed, his book contract was revoked and cancelled. According to an O’Hara scholar, the interview with Maureen (understandably) had not gone well. Despite the passage of over 40 years, Calhoun was firmly convinced that she could gain Maureen’s approval and consent to continue and complete an O’ Hara biography. There was a noticeable suspense throughout the narrative as readers awaited Maureen’s reply. Calhoun also digitized the brittle tapes to preserve the historical value. Frank O’Hara (1926-66): was a famous openly gay writer/artist of the 1950's-60’s vibrant NYC literary community that centered around abstract expressionism and the New School Poetry scene. After serving in the Navy during WWII, using the GI Bill, O’Hara studied at Harvard University and graduated in 1950. O’Hara was the associate curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), when he was killed in a freak accident involving a water taxi on Fire Island. To Calhoun’s dismay, her father recalled only vague impressions of O’Hara after meeting him a few times. On the tapes, (mainly recorded in 1977) O’Hara was fondly remembered by numerous celebrity friends, lovers, and those lesser known. Schjeldahl introduced Calhoun to O’Hara’s poetry “Lunch Poems” (1964) when she was a child. Considering her parents artistic “bohemian” lifestyle, it was challenging for her to attain any level of notice or validation from her indifferent, pre-occupied, self-absorbed father. As a teen, Calhoun was left at Saint Marks’s for long stretches of time while her parents vacationed in the Catskills, and quickly learned to independently fend for herself. Another time, while having lunch with her father and one of his more lecherous friends, she would cross her arms across her chest to block him from commenting and staring openly at her br...
Slumming Angelpsp
I had great hopes for a memoir about one of my favorite poets and art critics—but this book is a repetitive slog that covers only the alcoholism and despair of these writers. Ada Calhoun never gets close to an understanding of their creativity and daring. Only their human misery — in her father’s case, his unfitness as a parent— ; and in O’Hara’s case his despair—is described in the same terms again and again. What a wasted opportunity. And never again will I trust reviewers who’ve hyped this book unconscionably.
Slumming Angel
A beautiful memoir about art and family and what happens when you sacrifice one for the other. More importantly, a truthful telling of what it’s like to be sacrificed for a parent’s art. Deeply, almost painfully honest excavation of her relationship with her father. She’s a luminous writer with a real gift for description. I could not put it down and read straight through. Even though the subject matter can hurt, she’s witty and knows how to keep a reader engaged. I laughed at parts even as I was crying. Highly recommend. To my mind, the best thing she has published, and that’s saying something.
