Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes (born 29 October 1951) is an American poet and writer. Mayes' books of poetry include ''Magnetism'', ''First Language'', ''To Remain'', ''Works and Days'', ''Speed of Lif''e, and ''Bodysong''.

Biography

Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes was born in Minnesota. Mayes received a BA in English from Saint Mary's College, a Christian Brothers college in Winona, Minnesota. He went on to earn an MA in creative writing from Hollins College in Virginia in 1976. After finishing graduate school, Mayes moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California. He began working at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

in 1981, where he helped establish the university's Creative Writing Program. In 1993, he became an associate professor of English and served as the director of the Creative Writing Program. Mayes' long time partner is the writer

Frances Mayes Frances Mayes is an American novelist. Her 1996 memoir '' Under the Tuscan Sun.'' was on the New York Times Best Seller list for over two years and was the basis for the film '' Under the Tuscan Sun''. Biography Born and raised in Fitzgerald, Geor ...

, who he met in the mid 1980s. In 1990, the couple purchased a home in

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓� ...

, Italy, and began to regularly summer and winter there, documented in the memoir Under the Tuscan Sun and its sequels ''Bella Tuscany'' and ''In Tuscany''. Edward and Frances legally married in 1998 and Edward took her last name. Mayes and his wife currently live in Hillsborough,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

, Italy.

Writings

To date, Mayes has published five books of poetry: ''Magnetism'' (1987), ''First Language'' (1990), ''Works and Days'' (1999), ''Speed of Life'' (1999), and ''Bodysong'' (1999). He has also published the individual poem ''To Remain''. In 1997, Mayes received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry. In 1999, ''Works and Days'' received the Associated Writing Programs Award Series in Poetry accolade. His poems have appeared in

American Poetry Review ''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Elizab ...

Gettysburg Review ''The Gettysburg Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine featuring short stories, poetry, essays and reviews. Work appearing in the magazine often is reprinted in "best-of" anthologies and receives awards. The little magazine "is recognized ...

Iowa Review ''The Iowa Review'' is an American literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews. History and profile Founded in 1970, ''Iowa Review'' is issued three times a year, during the months of April, August, and December. Origin ...

Massachusetts Review ''The Massachusetts Review'' is a literary quarterly founded in 1959 by a group of professors from Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It receives financial support from Five Col ...

New England Review The ''New England Review'' is an American quarterly literary magazine published by Middlebury College. It was established in 1978 by Sydney Lea and Jay Parini. From 1982 till 1990, the magazine was named ''New England Review & Bread Loaf Quart ...

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

, ''Poetry (''Chicago),

TriQuarterly ''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by an American literary magazine and a series of books, both operating under the aegis of Northwestern University Press. The journal is published twice a year and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, liter ...

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion"'' ...

, and

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 ...

. His books have received the

Juniper Prize The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, the Gesù Award, the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award, and the Associated Writing Programs Prize. He's also received the

Cecil Hemley Memorial Award The Cecil Hemley Memorial Award is given once a year to a member of the Poetry Society of America "for a lyric poem that addresses a philosophical or epistemological concern.""PSA Annual Awards Guidelines" Web page at the Web site of the Poetry Soc ...

and the Gordon Barber Memorial Award from the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

, and a

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 ...

Fellowship in Poetry. Mayes also collaborated with his wife Frances Mayes to write ''In Tuscany'' (photographs by Bob Krist), ''Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy'' (photographs by Steven Rothfeld), and ''The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from My Italian Kitchen'' (photographs by Steven Rothfeld).

References

American male poets Living people 1951 births 20th-century American poets {{US-poet-1950s-stub