Michael Mott

1930 - 2019

MOTT, Michael Poet, novelist, and biographer Michael Charles Alston Mott, age 88, died at home on Oct. 11, in Atlanta, after a long struggle with heart and lung diseases. He spent his final seven months in home hospice surrounded by the things he loved most, his family, books, art, nature, and the company of friends. Mott was the author of eleven poetry collections, four novels, and a best-selling biography of Thomas Merton. A sense of place was important to him and was often reflected in his writing. North Georgia, in the US and North Cornwall in England were among his favorites. Born Dec. 8, 1930, in London, Mott was educated in England and the US. After his service in the British Army, Oriel College, Oxford, and the Courtauld Institute, London, he spent a year traveling in Europe and the Middle East. In 1957, his first collection of poetry, The Cost of Living, was published followed by novels The Notebooks of Susan Berry, Helmet and Wasps, Master Entrick, and The Blind Cross. Before moving to the US in 1966, Mott worked as a book editor at Thames & Hudson and then as an editor at The Geographical Magazine. Between 1956-1966, he also worked as the assistant editor of the literary magazine: ADAM International Review. In 1961, Michael married Margaret Watt and in 1962, the couple welcomed twin daughters. The family moved to America in 1966 when Mott was invited to teach at Kenyon College and to be the poetry editor of The Kenyon Review. He later taught at Emory University during the 1970's where he was active in Atlanta's civil rights movement at Emmaus House and with Amnesty International and was instrumental in the city's budding arts' scene. In 1972, he cofounded the Callanwolde Readings Program, which highlighted poets and writers, with poets Turner Cassity and Gene Ellis. In 1974, he received the Governors Award in Fine Arts from then Governor Jimmy Carter. In 1978, Michael Mott was commissioned to write the authorized biography of Thomas Merton. The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton published in 1984 was a New York Times best-seller, winner of a number of awards, and the runner up for the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1985. Michael was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979. In 1978 and again in 1985, Mott was Writer-in-Residence at the College of William and Mary, Virginia. He holds a Christopher Award and other awards, and has an honorary doctorate from St. Mary's College, Notre Dame. In 1991, after eleven years teaching at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Mott retired a Professor Emeritus, and moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he married Emma Lou Powers. He continued to write and publish. As an active member of Bruton Parish Church, in Colonial Williamsburg, he found further meaning as a leader in pastoral care, building on the experience of the pastoral care he gave and received during his first wife Margaret's yearlong battle with metastasized breast cancer. Until the time of his death, he maintained a lifelong practice of letter writing corresponding with family, friends, and deep thinkersmost recently former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, artist Katherine Mitchell, poet Tony Roberts, and religion and humanities scholar John Alden Williamswith whom he shared his great passions for literature, philosophy, art, and spirituality. Northwestern University houses his correspondence as part of The Michael Mott Collection in The Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections. Mott was predeceased by his parents Eric Mott and Margaret (Totts) Berger, first wife Margaret Mott, brother Eric Anthony Mott, nephews Nic Feltes and Jonathan Mott, and niece Diana Feltes. He is survived by his wife Emma Lou Powers (Williamsburg), daughter Sophie Mott and daughter-in-law Roz Nation (Atlanta), daughter Amanda Mott (Philadelphia), granddaughter Shakiera Sarai (New York), brother John Mott (Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire), eight nieces and nephews, and fourteen great-nieces and nephews, as well as caregivers Yahyah Suber, Marybeth Hayes, Stacy Harrell, and his trusted canine companion Cali Mott-Nation. A funeral service will be held at 11 AM, on Saturday, Oct. 19 at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Atlanta. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Carter Center; St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Atlanta; the Southern Poverty Law Center; the Nature Conservancy; Agape Hospice, Atlanta or Grace Hospice, Virginia.