Cornel Adam (Lengyel) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1915. He spent three years of his childhood in a village in Hungary, where he learned to speak Magyar as well as English, before returning to America. He was a shipwright, merchant marine, forest lookout, theater manager, editor, publisher, teacher of history and literature, and, most enduringly, a poet. He won national awards for his poetry, drama, and prose. His books of poetry include The Lookout's Letter, Fire Watch, Latter Day Psalms, Four Dozen Songs, and Late News from Adam's Acres. His books include Four Days in July, The Creative Self, and Malunkyaputta. He fled the city in his early thirties for eighty acres in the woods of El Dorado Forest near Georgetown, California. He died in 2003 at his homestead.