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Frederick Buechner (born July 11, 1926), full name Carl Frederick Buechner, is a Presbyterian PCUSA minister and an American author. Buechner (pronounced BEEK-nur) graduated from Lawrenceville School in 1943, where he befriended future poet James Merrill. He was accepted to Princeton University. Buechner spent two years (1944 - 1946) in the military, including combat duty in World War II, before finishing his studies at Princeton. Buechner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947. During his senior year he won the prestigious Glascock Prize for poetry. In 1948, Buechner returned to Lawrenceville as an English teacher. In 1950, Buechner published his first novel, A Long Day's Dying, which he had begun writing during his senior year at Princeton. Buechner quit teaching in 1953 and moved to New York to become a full-time writer. Buechner then began attending Union Theological Seminary, and received his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1958, which is equivalent to what is now called a Master of Divinity. He then served as the school chaplain at Phillips Exeter Academy from 1958-1967. Collections of his sermons to Exeter students were published. His most critically acclaimed novel, Godric , is the semi-fictionalized story of the life of a medieval Catholic saint, Godric of Finchale, told from his own perspective. Godric was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1981. The poet James Merrill (1926 - 1995) credited Buechner as an early inspiration. Merrill dedicated First Poems to Buechner in 1951. Merrill and Buechner were friends in high school. Buechner currently lives in Rupert, Vermont with his wife, Judith Merck, and as of 2004 continues to write. The alternative rock band Daniel Amos released Mr Buechner's Dream inspired by and honoring the author.
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