Kwame Dawes

Kwame Dawes
File:Kwamedawes009.JPG Kwame Dawes at the Poe Room 2012
Born	(1962-07-28)28 July 1962 Ghana
Occupation	poet, documentary writer, editor, critic
Nationality	American
Education	University of the West Indies

Kwame Senu Neville Dawes (born 28 July 1962, Ghana) is a 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 the Prairie Schooner. New York-based Poets & Writers has 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.

Life

File:Kwame Dawes.jpg

Kwame Dawes at a reading in 2010.

He grew up in Jamaica where he attended Jamaica College and the University of the West Indies at Mona. He studied and taught in New Brunswick, Canada on a Commonwealth Scholarship. As a PhD student at the University of New Brunswick, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Brunswickan.

From 1992–2012 he taught at the University of South Carolina as a Professor in English, Distinguished Poet in Residence, Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, and Director of the USC Arts Institute. He was also the faculty advisor for the publication Yemassee. 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 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 & Documentary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture. His project documented 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.

Duppy Conqueror, Dawes' most recent book of poetry (Copper Canyon Press, 2013), joins new works of poetry with selections from fifteen previous books.

Works

Poetry

• Progeny of Air, Peepal Tree Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-948833-68-7
• 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
• His New and Selected Poems, 1994–2002, Peepal Tree Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-900715-70-6
• 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, Copper Canyon Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-55659-423-6

Novels

• Bivouac, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2010, ISBN 978-1-84523-105-7

Short stories

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

Non fiction

• Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius, Sanctuary, 2002, ISBN 978-1-86074-433-4

South Carolina Poetry Book Prize

Dawes established the South Carolina Poetry Initiative's annual book prize competition, and edits the winning manuscripts.

External links

• Kwame Dawes & Pulitzer Center on Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica
• Kwame Dawes Homepage