Frank O’Hara was born in 1926 in Baltimore, MD, to Russell J. and Katherine Broderick O’Hara. O’Hara spent his childhood in Grafton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Worcester. O’Hara’s life before World War 2 was relatively privileged and cultured, though he was always aware that he and his family were not wholly welcome into Grafton’s elite circles. As a child and young adult, O’Hara showed interest in many genres beyond literature - he studied piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston from 1941 to 1944, and fell in love with painting. These early multidisciplinary interests formed a basis for his future collaborations with artists, musicians, and other writers.
World War 2 meant that O’Hara abandoned the comfortable leafy streets of Grafton for the military – in 1944,
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Citation: Kane, Daniel. "Frank O'Hara". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3381, accessed 24 November 2024.]
