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Felix Pollak (November 11, 1909–November 19, 1987) was a American poet.

Pollak was born in Vienna, Austria in 1909 to Geza Pollak and Helene Schneider Pollak While studying law and theatre at the University of Vienna, he was forced to emigrate to the United States after the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany. He worked as a door-to-door salesman in New York City before attending the University of Buffalo, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in library sciences in 1941.

While working as a librarian, Pollak was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943, where he worked as a translator for German prisoners of war. After the war, he attended the University of Michigan, where he received a master's degree in library science in 1949. Pollak also finally received his Dr.Jur. from the University of Vienna in 1953.

From 1949 to 1959, Pollak worked as a rare books library at Northwestern University. He became a rare books librarian at the University of Wisconsin in 1959, where he remained until 1974. After his retirement, Pollak remained in Madison, Wisconsin until he died in 1987.

In addition to his work as a librarian, Pollak was also an accomplished poet. His work appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry Northwest, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, TriQuarterly, The Madison Review, and the Wisconsin Academy Review. His most famous poem: "Speaking: The Hero" is cited as one of the great peace poems of the Vietnam era.

The University of Wisconsin Press annually awards a poetry prize named after Pollak. UW Press: - BRITTINGHAM AND POLLAK Prizes in Poetry Submission Guide

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Felix Pollak", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0