Neil Aitken

{{short description|Canadian poet, editor, and translator|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Neil Aitken

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1974}}

| birth_place = Vancouver

| nationality = Canadian

| occupation = Poet, editor, and translator

}}Neil Aitken (born 1974 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian poet, editor, and translator. He founded Boxcar Poetry Review.{{Cite web|url=http://www.anhingapress.org/neilaitken/|title=Neil Aitken|website=anhinga press|access-date=2016-05-15}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.lanternreview.com/blog/2014/03/07/2-poets-4-questions-qa-with-neil-aitken-and-rumit-pancholi/|title=2 Poets, 4 Questions: Q&A with Neil Aitken and Rumit Pancholi – Lantern Review Blog|website=www.lanternreview.com|date=7 March 2014 |access-date=2016-05-15}} His first book, The Lost Country of Sight, won the 2007 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry.{{Cite web|url=http://www.timothy-green.org/blog/neil-aitken/|title=Neil Aitken on Poets Cafe|date=2011-04-16|website=Timothy Green|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517143303/http://www.timothy-green.org/blog/neil-aitken/|archive-date=2017-05-17|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://diglibarts.whittier.edu/reading-discussion-neil-aitken-the-sound-of-a-distant-engine-writing-babbage-lovelace-into-poetry/|title=Reading & Discussion: Neil Aitken "The Sound of a Distant Engine: Writing Babbage & Lovelace into Poetry" – DigLibArts|website=diglibarts.whittier.edu|access-date=2016-05-15}}

Biography

= Early life and education =

Aitken was born in Vancouver in 1974{{Cite web|url=http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/poems-fea.php?nameCode=nealaitken&date=2004-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050322000020/http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/poems-fea.php?nameCode=nealaitken&date=2004-11-01|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 22, 2005|title=Neil Aitken - featured poets -- poeticdiversity.org|website=www.poeticdiversity.org|access-date=2016-05-15}} and was raised in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Canada, and the United States.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thrushpoetryjournal.com/september-2014-neil-aitken.html|title=September 2014 Neil Aitken|website=Thrush Poetry Journal|access-date=2016-05-15}} His father was of Scottish and English descent and his mother was of Chinese descent.{{Cite web|url=https://thedisplacednation.com/2015/04/29/tck-talent-neil-aitken-computer-gaming-whiz-kid-turned-award-winning-poet/|title=TCK TALENT: Neil Aitken, Computer Gaming Whiz Kid Turned Award-Winning Poet|date=2015-04-29|website=The Displaced Nation|access-date=2016-05-15}} He had a younger sister. He attended elementary and secondary school in Regina. Throughout high school, he enjoyed painting.{{Cite web|url=http://inscape.byu.edu/2012/03/01/interview-with-neil-aitken/|title=Interview with Neil Aitken|last=wpadmin|date=March 2012 |access-date=2016-05-15}} As an undergraduate, he studied Computer Engineering with a minor in Mathematics.

He worked as a computer games programmer for several years. In 2004, he quit his position to study at the University of California, Riverside, where he earned an MFA. He earned a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California.{{Cite web|url=http://havebookwilltravel.com/?p=539|title=Neil Aitken {{!}} Total Visits 376 {{!}} Have Book Will Travel|date=2015-12-23|website=Have Book Will Travel|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-15}}

= Literature career =

Aitken's first book, The Lost Country of Sight, won the 2007 Philip Levine Prize. In 2016, he published Babbage’s Dream, a semi-finalist for the Anthony Hecht Prize. He founded Boxcar Poetry Review. Aitken and Chinese poet-translator Ming Di translated The Book of Cranes: Selected Poems of Zang Di. In 2011, Aitken was awarded the DJS Translation Prize for "his translations of contemporary Chinese poetry."