James Laughlin

James Laughlin (1914-1997) was an American poet and publisher who founded New Directions Publishing, championing modernist writers like Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Vladimir Nabokov. Poets.org. Influenced by Pound to focus on publishing, he established New Directions in 1936 while at Harvard, promoting avant-garde literature despite initial commercial challenges.Britannica. He published his first poetry collection in 1945 and continued writing respected verse noted for its plainspoken style, earning the 1992 Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award.