David Budbill
DAVID BUDBILL was born in 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He was the first person in his family to graduate from high school. In 1969 he and his wife, Lois Eby, moved from New York City to Northern Vermont where they lived together for 47 years until his death in 2016.
David’s colorful life included being a track star in high school, attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, teaching at Lincoln University (a historically Black college in Pennsylvania), laboring on a Christmas tree farm, playing myriad musical instruments, working for racial and economic justice, tending a large vegetable garden, cutting his own wood, and writing a staggering amount of creative material.
During his prolific career David authored eight books of poems, seven plays, two novels, a collection of short stories, two picture books for children, dozens of essays, and the libretto for the opera (titled A Fleeting Animal, based on JUDEVINE's story of Tommy and Grace). He also served as an occasional commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
His honors include an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from New England College, a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. David loved to write but he also loved to perform and did so in many venues—from schools and prisons in Vermont to avant-garde performance spaces in New York City—often with bassist William Parker and other musical collaborators.
David’s play, JUDEVINE, has been produced more than 65 times in 34 states. Learn more at www.davidbudbill.com.
David Budbill photo by Joshi Radin.
