William O'Daly

A poet, translator, essayist, fiction writer, and editor, William O'Daly's published works include eight books of the late and posthumous poetry of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda ("Still Another Day," "The Separate Rose," "Winter Garden," "The Sea and the Bells," "The Yellow Heart," "The Book of Questions," "The Hands of Day," and "World’s End"). A ninth Neruda book, the master poet's first, "Book of Twilight," will be published by Copper Canyon Press in October, 2017. Books of his own poems include "The Whale in the Web" (Copper Canyon Press, out of print), "The Road to Isla Negra" (Folded Word Press, 2015), and "Water Ways" (Folded Word Press, 2017, a collaboration with JS Graustein). He was a finalist for the 2006 Quill Award in Poetry and was profiled on NBC’s "The Today Show." His poems, translations, essays, and reviews have been published in a wide range of anthologies, magazines, and journals. With co-author Han-ping Chin, he recently completed a historical novel, "This Earthly Life," based on the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which is in search of a publisher. "This Earthly Life" was selected for the “Finalist” category in prestigious "Narrative" magazine’s 2009 Fall Story Contest. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, he has worked as a literary and technical editor, a college professor, and an instructional designer, winning regional and national awards for literary editing and instructional design. He currently supervises the Technical Publications and Communication Media group at the California Department of Water Resources. In 2017 he was recognized by the State of California with two awards for his work on the California Water Plan.