Donald Finkel (b. 1929) The Great Wave: Hokusai LINKS No links found. BIOGRAPHY Donald Finkel (b. 1929) Donald Finkel was born in New York City, the son of an attorney. He earned a B.S. (1952) and an M.A. (1953) from Columbia University. In 1956 he married the writer Constance Urdang. Shortly thereafter, Finkel began a university teaching career at the University of Iowa, and, in 1960, moved to Washington University in St. Louis where he became poet in residence. His interest in Antarctica and exploration produced Endurance: An Antarctic Idyll and Going Under (1978). The first describes the shipwreck and rescue of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition. The second examines two men who explored Kentucky's Mammoth Caves. His many books, including Selected Shorter Poems (1987) and A Splintered Mirror: Chinese Poetry from the Democracy Movement (1991), have earned him abundant awards and honors, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship (1967), nomination for a National Book Award (1970), and two nominations for the National Book Critics Circle Award (1975, 1981).