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Kwame Dawes

Kwame Senu Neville Dawes (born 28 July 1962) is a Ghanaian poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and former Louis Frye Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He is now Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and editor-in-chief at Prairie Schooner magazine. New York-based Poets & Writers named Dawes as a recipient of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, which recognises writers who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.

Contents

  • 1 Biography
    • 1.1 Early years and education
    • 1.2 Career
  • 2 Awards and honours
  • 3 Works
    • 3.1 Poetry
    • 3.2 Novels
    • 3.3 Short stories
    • 3.4 Non fiction
    • 3.5 Plays
    • 3.6 Editor
    • 3.7 South Carolina Poetry Book Prize
    • 3.8 African Poetry Book Fund
  • 4 See also
  • 5 References
  • 6 External links

Biography

Kwame Dawes at a reading in 2010.

Early years and education

Kwame Dawes was born in Ghana in 1962 to Sophia and Neville Dawes, and in 1971 the family moved to Kingston, Jamaica, when Neville Dawes became deputy director of the Ins*ute of Jamaica. Growing up in Jamaica, Kwame Dawes attended Jamaica College and the University of the West Indies at Mona, where he received a BA degree in 1983. He studied and taught in New Brunswick, Canada, on a Commonwealth Scholarship. In 1992 he earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of New Brunswick, where he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Brunswickan.

Career

From 1992 to 2012 Dawes taught at the University of South Carolina (USC) as a Professor in English, Distinguished Poet in Residence, Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, and Director of the USC Arts Ins*ute. He was also the faculty advisor for the publication Yem*ee. He won the 1994 Forward Poetry Prize, Best First Collection for Progeny of Air. He is currently a Chancellor's Professor of English and Editor-in-Chief of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a faculty member of Cave Canem, and a teacher in the Pacific MFA program in Oregon.

Dawes collaborated with San Francisco-based writer and composer Kevin Simmonds on Wisteria: Twilight Songs from the Swamp Country, which debuted at London's Royal Festival Hall in 2006, and featured sopranos Valetta Brinson and Valerie Johnson.

In 2009, Dawes won an Emmy Award in the category of New Approaches to News & Do*entary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture. His project do*ented HIV/AIDS in Jamaica, interspersed with poetry, photography by Andre Lambertson, and music by Kevin Simmonds. The website Livehopelove.com is the culmination of his project.He is director of the Calabash International Literary Festival, a yearly event in Jamaica.

In 2014, the African Poetry Book Fund arose, with Dawes as the founding editor. He and five other internationally regarded poets serve on the reading board to annually publish the winning m*cript of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, a new and selected/collected volume by a major living African poet, the New-Generation African Poets Chapbook Boxset (comprising collected chapbooks of emerging writers, with special emphasis on those who have not yet published a full-length collection), and contemporary works of new poetry by select African poets (solicited and unsolicited m*cripts).

In 2018, Dawes was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In 2019 he was one of the eight recipients of the Windham-Campbell Prize, alongside Ishion Hutchinson (Jamaica), Danielle McLaughlin (Ireland), David Chariandy (Canada), Raghu Karnad (India), Rebecca Solnit (US), Young Jean Lee (US) and Patricia Cornelius (Australia).

In 2021 Dawes will succeed Ted Kooser as host of the news column American Life in Poetry.

Awards and honours

  • 1994: Forward Poetry Prize (Best First Collection)
  • 1996: Individual Artist Fellowship
  • 2000: Poetry Business Prize
  • 2000: Hollis Summers Poetry Prize
  • 2001: Pushcart Prize for Poetry (US)
  • 2003: Commonwealth Writers Prize (Caribbean and Canada Region, Best First Book)
  • 2009: Emmy Award – New Approaches to News & Do*entary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture
  • 2019 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in Poetry.

Works

Poetry

  • Progeny of Air, Peepal Tree Press, 1994, ISBN:978-0-948833-68-7
  • Resisting the Anomie, Fredericton, 1995, ISBN:978-0-864921-47-5
  • Prophets, Peepal Tree Press, 1995, ISBN:978-0-948833-85-4
  • Jacko Jacobus, Peepal Tree Press, 1996, ISBN:978-1-900715-06-5
  • Requiem, Peepal Tree Press, 1996, ISBN:978-1-900715-07-2
  • Shook Foil, Peepal Tree Press, 1997, ISBN:978-1-900715-14-0
  • Map-Maker Smith/Doorstop Books, 2000, ISBN:978-1-902382-18-0
  • Midland. Ohio University Press. 2001. ISBN:978-0-8214-1356-2. Kwame Senu Neville Dawes.
  • New and Selected Poems, 1994–2002, Peepal Tree Press, 2003, ISBN:978-1-900715-70-6
  • Bruised Totems, Parallel Press Madison, 2004, ISBN:978-1-893311-48-0
  • I Saw Your Face, with Tom Feelings, Dial Books, 2005, ISBN:978-0-803718-94-4
  • Wisteria: Twilight Songs from the Swamp Country, Red Hen Press, 2006, ISBN:978-1-597090-59-9
  • Impossible Flying, Peepal Tree Press, 2007, ISBN:978-1-845230-39-5
  • Gomer's Song. Akashic Books. 2007. ISBN:978-1-933354-44-6.
  • Hope's Hospice, Peepal Tree Press, 2009, ISBN:978-1-845230-78-4
  • Back of Mount Peace, Peepal Tree Press, 2009, ISBN:978-1-84523-124-8
  • Wheels, Peepal Tree Press, 2010, ISBN:978-1-84523-142-2
  • Duppy Conqueror: New and Selected Poems, Copper Canyon Press, 2013, ISBN:978-1-55659-423-6
  • Speak from Here to There, with John Kinsella, Peepal Tree Press, 2016, ISBN:978-1-845233-19-8
  • City of Bones: A Testament, Northwestern University Press, 2017, ISBN:978-0810134-62-1

Novels

  • She's Gone. Akashic Books. 2007. ISBN:978-1-933354-18-7.
  • Bivouac, Peepal Tree Press Ltd, 2010, ISBN:978-1-84523-105-7

Short stories

  • A Place to Hide and Other Stories, Peepal Tree Press, 2003, ISBN:978-1-900715-48-5

Non fiction

  • Natural Mysticism: Towards a Reggae Aesthetic, Peepal Tree Press, 1999, ISBN:978-1-900715-22-5
  • Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius, Sanctuary, 2002, ISBN:978-1-86074-433-4
  • A Far Cry from Plymouth Rock: A Personal Narrative, Peepal Tree Press, 2007, ISBN:978-1-845230-25-8

Plays

  • One Love. Methuen. 2001. ISBN:978-0-413-76530-7.

Editor

  • Wheel and Come Again: An anthology of Reggae Poetry. Goose Lane Editions. 1998.
  • Twenty South Carolina Poetry Fellows. Hub City Press. 2005. ISBN:978-1891885-39-6.
  • Red: Contemporary Black British Poetry. Peepal Tree Press. 2009. ISBN:978-1-84523-129-3.
  • Fugue and Other Writings. Peepal Tree Press. 2009. ISBN:978-1845231-09-5.
  • (with Colin Channer) So Much Things to Say: 100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International Literary Festival. Akashic Books. 2010. ISBN:978-1-936070-07-7.
  • Home Is Where: An Anthology of African American Poetry from the Carolinas. Hub City Press. 2011. ISBN:978-1891885-80-8.
  • (with Jeremy Poynting) Hold Me To an Island: Caribbean Place: An Anthology of Writing. Peepal Tree Press. 2011. ISBN:978-1-84523-163-7.
  • Jubilation!: Poems Celebrating 50 Years of Jamaican Independence. Peepal Tree Press. 2012. ISBN:978-1845232-04-7.
  • Seven Strong: Winners of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize, 2006–2012. University of South Carolina Press. 2012. ISBN:978-1-61117-093-1.
  • (with Marianne Kunkel and James Englehardt) The Prairie Schooner Book Prize: Tenth Anniversary Reader. University of Nebraska Press. 2013. ISBN:978-0803240-43-8.
  • (with Marjory Wentworth) Seeking: Poetry and Prose Inspired by the Art of Jonathan Green. University of South Carolina Press. 2013. ISBN:978-1611170-92-4.
  • (with Chris Abani) Eight New Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Boxset. Akashic Books/African Poetry Book Fund. 2015. ISBN:978-1617753-55-8.
  • (With Chris Abani) New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set – Tatu. Akashic Books/African Poetry Book Fund. 2016. ISBN:978-1617754-51-7.
  • Kwame Dawes, ed. (2016). When the Rewards Can Be So Great: Essays on Writing and the Writing Life. Pacific University Press. ISBN:978-0988482-74-6.
  • Kwame Dawes, ed. (2016). A Bloom of Stones: A Tri-lingual Anthology of Haitian Poems After the Earthquake. Peepal Tree Press. ISBN:978-1845231-92-7.
  • (with Matthew Shenoda) Bearden's Odyssey: Poets Respond to the Art of Romare Bearden. Northwestern University Press. 2017. ISBN:978-0810134-89-8.
  • (with Chris Abani) New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set – Nne. Akashic Books/African Poetry Book Fund. 2017. ISBN:978-1617755-40-8.
  • (with Chris Abani) New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set – Tano. Akashic Books/African Poetry Book Fund. 2018. ISBN:978-1617756-23-8.

South Carolina Poetry Book Prize

Dawes established the South Carolina Poetry Initiative's annual book prize compe*ion, and edits the winning m*cripts.

  • Julia Koets (2012). Hold like Owls. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-61117-084-9.
  • Jennifer Pournelle (2011). Excavations: A City Cycle. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-61117-093-1.
  • Worthy Evans (2010). Green Revolver. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-57003-932-4.
  • DéLana R. A. Dameron (2009). How God Ends Us. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-57003-832-7.
  • Ed Madden (2008). Signals. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-57003-750-4.
  • Ray McM* (2007). Driving Through the Country Before You Are Born. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-57003-702-3.
  • Susan Meyers (2006). Keep and Give Away. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN:978-1-57003-670-5.

African Poetry Book Fund

Dawes is the founding editor of the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF). The series itself was started in 2014 and established through the generosity of Laura Sillerman and Robert F. X. Sillerman. The goal of the APBF is to promote and publicize "the poetic arts through its book series, contests, workshops, and seminars and through its collaborations with publishers, festivals, booking agents, colleges, universities, conferences and all other en*ies that share an interest in the poetic arts of Africa."

  • (Co-editor with Chris Abani) New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set – Tano. Akashic Books. 2018. ISBN:978-1617756-23-8.
  • (with Chris Abani) New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set – Nne. Akashic Books. 2017. ISBN:978-1617755-40-8.
  • New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set – Tatu. Akashic Books. 2016. ISBN:978-1-61775-451-7.
  • (with Chris Abani) Eight New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set. Akashic Books. 2015. ISBN:978-1-61775-355-8.
  • (with Chris Abani) Seven New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set. Slapering Hol Press. 2014. ISBN:978-1-94064-658-9.

See also

  • Caribbean literature
  • Caribbean poetry
  • American literature

References

    External links

    • Kwame Dawes & Pulitzer Center on Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica
    • Kwame Dawes Homepage
    • Kwame Dawes biography on Poets.org

    Kwame Dawes Is A Member Of

    61 Year Olds

    Kwame Dawes

    Kwame

    Ghana, Portuguese Empire