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Writings about, by, or inspired by poet and seeker Robert Lax

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Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax

Also available on Amazon: just click here.

Excellence in Publishing Award, Association of Catholic Publishers
Honorable Mention, Catholic Press Association Book Award
Finalist, Washington State Book Award

New York Times: “A fond biography of an unworldly man…vivid and engaging.”

Publishers Weekly: “Drawing on his friendship with poet Robert Lax (1915–2000) and his close readings of Lax’s writings, McGregor eloquently offers the definitive biography of a too often forgotten figure who influenced a number of writers and crafted spirituality out of his deep commitment to love, poverty, and justice.”

Karen Fisher, author of A Sudden Country: “Pure Act is much more than a biography. It’s a real and full and personal meditation on life, and on what a life is for.”

Pure Act tells the story of poet Robert Lax, whose quest to live a true life as both an artist and a spiritual seeker inspired Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, William Maxwell and a host of other writers, artists and ordinary people. Known in the U.S. primarily as Merton’s best friend and in Europe as a daringly original avant-garde poet, Lax left behind a promising New York writing career to travel with a circus, live among immigrants in post-war Marseilles and settle on a series of remote Greek islands where he learned and recorded the simple wisdom of the local people.  Born a Jew, he became a Catholic and found the authentic community he sought in Greek Orthodox fishermen and sponge divers.

Written by a writer who met Lax in Greece when he was a young seeker himself and visited him regularly over fifteen years, Pure Act is an intimate look at an extraordinary but little-known life.  Much more than just a biography, it’s a tale of adventure, an exploration of friendship, an anthology of wisdom, and a testament to the liberating power of living an uncommon life.

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PURE ACT Receives Catholic Press Association Book Award

Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax has been awarded an Honorable Mention in Biography by the Catholic Press Association (CPA), making it the only biography to receive awards from both the CPA and the Association of Catholic Publishers in 2016.

Posted on June 14, 2016Author Michael N. McGregorCategories Lax books & reviewsTags Catholic Press Association Book Awards, pure act

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