Richard Young was born and grew up in London and, after graduating from Oxford with a degree in PPE, he taught in Italy and Hong Kong before settling in the United States in 1983. He is now emeritus professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has taught courses on sociolinguistics, syntax, language acquisition, and more. He is a scholar and lover of mathematics and linguistics with an abiding interest in religion and esoteric knowledge. A poet since his youth, he has been writing for more than sixty years.
Much of what Richard has written describes desire, following the Buddhist teaching that eliminating desire is the only way to overcome pain. Though he is far from eliminating desire, he believes that making himself aware of his own desire is one step forward illustrated by some poems from this book. He takes sensual pleasure in nature expressed while walking in Winter Rain, walking in Your Woods, watching Snowfall. Just as he desires pleasures of the senses, Richard also desires kindness, beauty and love for and from other people, some of whom he has named and others who must remain Unsubstantial Obsessions. The Buddha teaches that attachment causes suffering, such as the bitter pain of the loss of a loved one, which he describes in The Unbeliever and The Darkest Night. Apart from the pleasure and pain of the senses, many poems included here describe despair that Freedom is Hard, anger For Teachers who have failed to change the world in This Concerns You, pain, in Days Like These, remorse in Holiday Farms, and confusion at the daily contradictions in which we live in The Path to Each Other.
Richard lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Ling Ling Ho. Their daughter lives with her husband and grandchildren in Chicago. Their son lives with his wife and a granddaughter in Falls Church, Virginia.