John Wheatcroft

Who is John Wheatcroft?

John Wheatcroft, informally known as Jack Wheatcroft, is an American writer and former teacher.

A novelist, poet, and playwright, Wheatcroft's works have appeared in The New York Times and the Beloit Poetry Journal. He was born in 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and served in the United States Navy in World War II. Wheatcroft attended Temple University, Rutgers University, and Bucknell University, where he graduated in 1949. He began teaching in Bucknell's English department in 1952. He founded and directed the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets in 1985 and was the first director of Bucknell's Stadler Center for Poetry. He also served as a juror for the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A professor emeritus since 1996, Wheatcroft has continued to write and be published since his retirement.

Wheatcroft's significant writings include the play Ofoti, which was produced for NET Playhouse in 1966 starring Rene Auberjonois, and made into a film, The Boy Who Loved Trolls, in 1984.