![David Kirby (poet)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/David_Kirby_%28poet%29.jpg)
David Kirby (born 1944) is an American
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
and the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
(FSU).
Biography
Early life
Kirby was raised in "the rural south" by a polyglot "medievalist college professor" father
with an obsessive passion for the works of
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
and a "farm-girl" mother
turned elementary school teacher
who "taught him how to shoot her single-shot .22 and paid him ten cents for every cottonmouth moccasin he knocked off" in aid of protecting the horses and sheep
on their family's 10-acre property in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
.
As a child, Kirby took pleasure in wandering the great outdoors; conversing with Cajun neighbors, including "some of the oddest, sweetest people
eever met"; and listening to fanciful stories told by his mother "about voodoo spells and people who lived in trees." He began writing for enjoyment at the age of 5 while suffering from
polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
.
Also as a preteen, Kirby occasionally helped bartend for literary events hosted by his father's university department, meeting novelists and literary critics in the process.
Education and career
Kirby obtained a bachelor's degree from
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
and, in 1969, a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
from
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
with a thesis on
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
.
Since that time, he has taught literature courses and run poetry workshops for Florida State University's English department.
In addition to teaching at the university's main campus in
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...
, he has worked at FSU's international campuses in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, and elsewhere, supervising numerous undergraduate honors theses, masters theses, and doctoral dissertations in the process.
Kirby has published more than 20 books, including multiple poetry collections, a handful of volumes of
literary criticism
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
, and biographies of
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...
and
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
. His poems and essays also frequently appear in journals such as ''
The Southern Review
''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes fiction ...
''. Kirby cites
Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...
, Little Richard, and
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
as foundational influences on his poetry.
Marriage and children
Kirby lives with his wife and fellow writer
Barbara Hamby in Tallahassee, Florida. Hamby has described the atmosphere of their household as akin to "an ongoing workshop," with each partner continuously encouraging and inspiring the other's writerly endeavors as well as periodically providing constructive criticism on works in progress.
The pair have co-edited a poetry anthology.
Will Kirby
William Terence Kirby (born January 2, 1973), popularly known as Dr. Will, is an American aesthetic dermatologist, an associate clinical professor of dermatology, and a reality television personality. He is known for winning the CBS reality show ...
, one of David's children from a previous marriage,
is a dermatologist and ''
Big Brother'' winner.
Published works
Poetry collections
*''More Than This'' (
LSU Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2019, )
* ''Get Up, Please'' (
LSU Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2016, )
* ''A Wilderness of Monkeys'' (Hanging Loose Press, 2014)
* ''The Biscuit Joint'' (
LSU Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2013, )
* ''Talking about Movies with Jesus'' (
LSU Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2011, )
*''The Temple Gate Called Beautiful'' (
Alice James Books
Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.
History and mission
"Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, MA in 19 ...
, 2008)
*''The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected Poems by David Kirby'' (Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2007)
* ''I Think I Am Going to Call My Wife Paraguay'' (Alexandria, Virginia:
Orchises Press, 2004)
* ''The Ha-Ha'' (Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2003)
*''The Travelling Library'' (Alexandria, Virginia:
Orchises Press, 2001)
* ''The House of Blue Light'' (Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 2000)
* ''My Twentieth Century'' (Alexandria, Virginia:
Orchises Press, 1999)
* ''Big Leg Music'' (Alexandria, Virginia:
Orchises Press, 1995)
*''Saving the Young Men of Vienna'' (Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and po ...
, 1987)
*''A Tall Woman with a Black Eye'' (Kalliope: a Journal of women’s literature and art. 1998)
Literary criticism
* ''Ultra-Talk: Johnny Cash, The Mafia, Shakespeare, Drum Music, St. Teresa of Avila, and 17 Other Colossal Topics of Conversation'' (
University of Georgia Press
The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and la ...
, 2007)
* ''What is a Book?'' (Athens, Georgia:
University of Georgia Press
The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and la ...
, 2002)
* ''Mark Strand and the Poet's Place in Contemporary Culture'' (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1990)
* ''Writing Poetry: Where Poems Come from and How to Write Them'' (Boston: The Writer, Inc., 1989)
Biography
*''Little Richard: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll '' (
Continuum International Publishing Group
Continuum International Publishing Group was an academic publisher of books with editorial offices in London and New York City. It was purchased by Nova Capital Management in 2005. In July 2011, it was taken over by Bloomsbury Publishing. , al ...
, 2009)
*''Herman Melville'' (New York:
Crossroad/Continuum, 1993)
Recognition
In his capacity both as poet and as professor, Kirby has been the recipient of multiple awards and honors at the institutional, state, and national levels.
The
Florida Arts Council awarded him four separate grants in 1983–2002. In 1985, he was awarded a grant by The
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
and in 2003, he was the recipient of a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
. In 2016, he won the Florida Humanities Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing.
His poetry has also won the
Brittingham Prize in Poetry
The Brittingham Prize in Poetry is a major United States literary award for a book of poetry chosen from an open competition.
The prize, established in 1985, is sponsored by the English Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is ...
(1987) and the
Pushcart Prize XXV (2001), was shortlisted for the
Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin.
Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...
(International) in 2004, and has been collected four times in ''
The Best American Poetry
''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems.
Background
The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...
'' (2000, 2001, 2006, 2007).
Kirby has also been repeatedly formally recognized for his work as an educator. In 1990–2017, he repeatedly won competitive awards bestowed by
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
and the university's College of Arts and Sciences, including being made Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor in 2003 and receiving the FSU Distinguished Teacher Award in 2006.
Billy Collins
William James Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York (retired, 2016). Collins ...
has stated that he considers Kirby "one of the most engaging and original voices on the American poetry scene today," claiming that he "could recognize a Kirby poem on the page across a room, just as
ecould recognize one of Emily Dickinson’s."
References
External links
David Kirby's personal web site
Florida State University, Department of English websiteGriffin Poetry Prize biography
Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, David
American male poets
Living people
Florida State University faculty
1944 births
Poets from Florida
Johns Hopkins University alumni
National Endowment for the Arts Fellows