Dear Jud

To thousands of practicing poets who read Writer's Digest from October 1960, when his article "Are You a Poet?" appeared, to December 1991, when his last monthly column was posthumously published, Judson Jerome was the most public proponent of the highest standards of their art. His own poetry was less-known, and his family life--as revealed in some of these letters, some of his poems, and his memoirs--was unconventional.

To thousands of practicing poets who read Writer's Digest from October 1960, when his article "Are You a Poet?" appeared, to December 1991, when his last monthly column was posthumously published, Judson Jerome was the most public proponent of the highest standards of their art. His own poetry was less-known, and his family life--as revealed in some of these letters, some of his poems, and his memoirs--was unconventional.

Judson Jerome and Hayes Walker exchanged approximately eighty thousand words of correspondence from 1982 to 1991, nearly all of which is preserved in this volume. As fascinating as many of the letters are on many levels, readers will find much more here to enjoy and marvel at. Walker has included twelve of Jerome's most notable Writer's Digest columns, forty pages of Jerome's poetry, and memorial tributes from Jerome's friends and peers, with annotations and behind-the-scenes stories.

"Dear Jud: A friendship in letters" is a book that poets and poetry-lovers will enjoy and learn from.