Max Ritvo Biography

Max Ritvo (1990 - 2016) was an American poet who believed writing a book, or a poem, was itself a heroic act, available to anyone brave enough to try. In Max’s words, “All poets are heroes; Your book is your hero story. Take your reader on an adventure.” Diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma at sixteen, Max dealt with a rare and misunderstood cancer. Every day became a fight to live well. For Max, this was to write. He spent much time  writing about illness, pain, triumphs, mortality, and love with rare candor and wit. Max loved poetry not as a solitary, cerebral pursuit but as something embodied, funny, generous, and communal. He wrote about hardship with humor, tenderness, and an insistence on staying fully alive to the people and things he loved. During Max’s life, he was accomplished and multi-talented; he graduated from Yale and received a MFA from Columbia, where he also worked as a teacher for a short while, and even performed in a few stand-up comedy performances. Max saw laughter as healing and much of his daily communication contained dark humor. He published poems in several esteemed poetry magazines, including The New Yorker and Boston Review. His published work includes Four Reincarnations (2016), The Final Voicemails (2018, edited posthumously by Louise Glück), and Letters from Max: A Poet, A Teacher, A Friendship (2018) which was a correspondence with his teacher and friend, the playwright Sarah Ruhl. On August 23, 2016, at the age of 25 and after  a long and courageous fight, Max died at home, surrounded by his loved ones.

Max's creative spirit lives on at Grace Fisher Foundation’s Inclusive Arts Clubhouse, where individuals of all abilities are invited to be brave enough to create, express themselves, and discover that picking up a brush, playing an instrument, or sharing their voice can be a heroic act in itself. The Inclusive Arts Clubhouse creates an atmosphere of creativity, joy and laughter to all. Max’s mission and mantra was to create with a full heart; In a radio interview with The New Yorker Radio Hour, Max described himself as “A partisan for the present.” Max, with an expanded joyous heart, makes a perfect guardian angel to those who visit the clubhouse, which is an environment where one must be fully present. Like Max, the Grace Fisher Foundation is ‘a partisan for the present’ and is an ambassador for a hopeful and better future, making this a perfect place for Max’s legacy to reside.

In honor of Max's legacy, a section of the Inclusive Arts Clubhouse will be renamed:

Max's Reading and Writing Corner

A special dedication ceremony will be held at the Inclusive Arts Clubhouse on

October 10, 2026, at 5pm. Details coming soon.