Photo by Johnson Photography, Inc.
A.M. Juster's newest publication, a translation of Petrarch’s Canzoniere is available from W.W. Norton. His other books include Longing for Laura (Birch Brook Press, 2001); The Secret Language of Women (University of Evansville Press, 2003); The Satires of Horace (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008); Tibullus' Elegies (Oxford University Press, 2012); Saint Aldhelm's Riddles (University of Toronto Press 2015); Sleaze & Slander: Selected Humorous Verse 1995-2015 (Measure Press 2016) ; The Billy Collins Experience (Aldrich Press 2016) and The Elegies of Maximianus (University of Pennsylvania Press 2018); John Milton's The Book of Elegies (Paideia Institute Press 2019); Wonder and Wrath (Paul Dry Books, September 2020); and Gerytades (Contubernalesbooks, December 2023).
He has won the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award three times, the Richard Wilbur Award, the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize and received other recognition, including two honorary degrees.
The iconic Renaissance songbook—an inspiration to love poets since the fourteenth century—in an elegant, fluid, and inviting translation.
Petrarch’s Canzoniere stands as one of the greatest and most influential collections of love poetry ever written. Expressing his unrequited devotion for Laura—with whom the young poet fell in love at first sight—the Canzoniere explores the tension between Petrarch’s earthly desire and his spiritual longing for divine grace. In this monumental translation, the project of a lifetime, renowned poet A.M. Juster preserves the original text’s formal elegance, honoring Petrarch’s rhyme and meter while also capturing the profound religious and philosophical undertones that imbue the work. Unlike earlier translations that framed the Canzoniere as mere “troubadour poetry,” this version, with a rich and informative introduction by Andrew Frisardi and extensive notes by the translator, highlights its classical roots and modern sensibility. Juster, a celebrated poet and translator, brings Petrarch’s vision to life with precision and grace, offering a rendition that is both faithful to the original and eminently accessible to contemporary readers.
News:
A review of Gerytades in The New Criterion
Two poems by A.M. Juster in Poetry Daily
“Opposites Refract: A review of Wonder and Wrath by A. M. Juster,” Sally Thomas, Plough
“On Poetry and Translation: A Conversation with A. M. Juster,” Podcast - Episode 33, Athenaeum Review
“The Interview with A.M. Juster,” Alfred Nicol, Better Than Starbucks
”When politics gets out of hand, turn to this poem,” PBS News
”The Golden Apples of the Sun,” Review of Maximianus: Elegies and Eros, Deborah Warren, Claremont Review of Books
"East African Proverbs," trans. A.M. Juster, July/August 2016, Poetry
”A Modern Martial,” Review of Sleaze & Slander, Micah Mattix, The Washington Free Beacon
