James Arthur (born 1974, in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
) is an American-Canadian poet. He grew up in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Canada. Arthur's poems have appeared in ''
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 ...
,
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
,
Poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
,
Ploughshares
''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Boston. ...
'', ''
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
'', ''
The Walrus
''The Walrus'' is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national s ...
'', and ''
The 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 Elizabe ...
''.
Arthur lives in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and is an associate professor in the Writing Seminars at
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 ...
.
Career
He began his career at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1998. He then earned a Master of Arts in Fiction from the
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
in 2001 and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Washington in 2003.
Arthur taught composition at
Northwest Missouri State University
Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...
. He has also taught as an instructor at the School of Continuing Studies at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
Arthur is now an Associate Professor in the Writing Seminars at
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 ...
. He also serves as Director of Graduate Studies.
Style
Arthur's poems leverage rhythm to make a sort of "music". He said in an interview with the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', "I've always loved poems that can assert a hypnotic power over the listener, that can transport the listener through sound." Arthur's style is marked by free verse lines that incorporate rhyme and meter.
Publications
Books
''The Suicide's Son'' (Vehicule Press, 2019)
''Charms Against Lightning'' (Copper Canyon Press, 2012)
Chapbooks
''Hundred Acre Wood'' (Anstruther Press, 2018)
''Rowlock'' (Junction Books, 2000)
Anthologies
''Resisting Canada: An Anthology of Poems'' (Vehicule Press, 2019)
''Here: Poems for the Planet'' (Copper Canyon Press, 2019)
''The Next Wave'' (Palimpsest Press, 2018)
''Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now'' (Knopf, 2017)
''The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2016'' (Tightrope Books, 2016)
''Best New Poets 2010'' (University of Virginia Press, 2010)
''The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008'' (Tightrope Books, 2008)
Poems
School for Boys ''The Southern Review'' (2019)
Hundred Acre Wood ''The Southern Review'' (2018)
Model-Train Display at Christmas in a Shopping Mall Food Court ''The Southern Review'' (2018)
Prose
Some Thoughts on Ambiguity: Mystery, Truth, and Lies ''AGNI Online'' (2018)
Awards, honors, and fellowships
Arthur was one of the 2121 Baker Artist Award recipients.
In 2019 Arthur received a Visiting Fellowship at Exeter College at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. In the fall of 2019, he was once again a Lannan Foundation writer-in-residence.
Also in 2019, he was in residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France.
In January 2018, Arthur was a Jay and Deborah Last Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society. He also received ''The Southern Review''
's James Olney Award for his poem "School for Boys".
In 2017, Arthur received a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation grant in support of a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. In the summer of 2017, he was a poet-in-residence at the Al Purdy A-Frame.
In 2016 he was the Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Creative Writing at
Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to:
*Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada
*Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
**Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950)
**Queen's University of Belfast ...
in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Arthur received the Rubys Artist Project Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance in 2015.
In 2014, Arthur was a resident of the MacDowell Colony for the third time.
In the summer of 2013, Arthur was a Lannan Foundation writer-in-residence.
In 2012, Arthur received a Hodder Fellowship from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. Also in 2012, he was a writer-in-residence at The Amy Clampitt House.
In 2011 Arthur received the Joan Nordell Fellowship from Harvard University. This visiting fellowship allowed Arthur to complete research titled "Audio Research in the Woodberry Poetry Room, Rhythm in 20th-Century English Language Verse".
In 2010, Arthur was a resident at the MacDowell Colony for a second time.
Also in 2010, Arthur was a writer-in-residence at Spiro Arts in Utah.
From 2007-2009, Arthur was a Wallace
Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University.
In 2006, Arthur received the
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
Life
Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...
Traveling Poetry Scholarship.
In the spring of 2005, Arthur was a resident fellow at La Napoule Art Foundation in France.
From 2004-2005 Arthur was a writer-in-residence at the Richard Hugo House. Also in 2004, James Arthur was an artist-in-residence at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York. In this year, Arthur received the "Discovery"/''The Nation'' Prize.
In 2003, Arthur was a writer-in-residence at the
MacDowell Colony
MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...
in New Hampshire. There he worked in the Phi Beta Studio.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur, James
Poets from Connecticut
Writers from New Haven, Connecticut
University of Washington alumni
Johns Hopkins University faculty
1974 births
Living people
21st-century American poets
21st-century Canadian poets
American male poets
Canadian male poets
Writers from Toronto
21st-century Canadian male writers
21st-century American male writers