John Patrick James (born May 26, 1987) is an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

, critic, and digital collagist. He is the author of ''The Milk Hours'', selected by

Henri Cole Henri Cole (born 1956) is an American poet, who has published many collections of poetry and a memoir. His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic. Biography Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, to an Amer ...

for the 2018 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and forthcoming from

Milkweed Editions Milkweed Editions is an independent nonprofit literary publisher that originated from the ''Milkweed Chronicle'' literary and arts journal established in Minneapolis in 1979. The journal ceased and the business transitioned to publishing. It relea ...

. He is also the author of ''Chthonic'', winner of the 2014

CutBank ''CutBank'' is a literary journal that is affiliated with the University of Montana's creative writing program. The journal was founded in 1973 with the help of William Kittredge among others. It is the third incarnation of the magazine at the un ...

Chapbook Competition. His poems appear in ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'', ''

Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ...

'', ''Gulf Coast'', ''

Poetry Northwest ''Poetry Northwest'' was founded as a quarterly, poetry-only journal in 1959 by Errol Pritchard, with Carolyn Kizer, Richard Hugo, Edith Shiffert and Nelson Bentley as co-editors. The first issue was 32 pages and included the work of Richmond Latt ...

'', ''

Best New Poets The ''Best New Poets'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing fifty poems from poets without a previously published collection. The first edition of the series appeared in 2005, and was published, as all later editions hav ...

2013'' and ''2016'', ''

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 ...

2017'', and other publications.

Biography

James was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

and raised in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. He graduated summa cum laude from

Bellarmine University Bellarmine University (BU; ) is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named after Saint Rober ...

with a B.A. in English and a minor in history. He later earned an M.F.A. in creative writing (poetry) from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's School of the Arts and an M.A. in English literature at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, where he served as graduate associate to the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. James has taught at Bellarmine University, the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...

, The Potomac School, and Georgetown University, where he directs the Creative Writing Institute. He lives in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, where he is a Ph.D. student in English literature at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. His book reviews have been published in ''Boston Review'', ''

Colorado Review The ''Colorado Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine published by the Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University. History and profile The magazine was established in 1956. It presents the annual Nelligan Prize for Short Fict ...

'', ''Kenyon Review Online'', and ''

The 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 ...

''. His collages are published in ''

Quarterly West ''Quarterly West'' is an American literary magazine based at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Stories that have appeared in ''Quarterly West'' have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Short Stories and the O. H ...

''. Of ''The Milk Hours'', prize judge

writes, "“The poetry of the earth is intensely alive in the poems of John James... Out of the sorrowful fragments of personal history, ehas a created a book of unusual intelligence and beauty.”

Bibliography

* ''The Milk Hours'' Minneapolis, Minnesota :

, 2019. , * ''Chthonic''

Books, 2015. ,

Poems

* "The Milk Hours" at

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

* "History (n.)" at ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ' ...

(reprinted in ''Best American Poetry 2017'' * "Metamorphoses" at ''

'' * "At Assateague", "End," and "Le Moribond" at ''

The Missouri Review ''The Missouri Review'' is a literary magazine founded in 1978 by the University of Missouri. It publishes fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction quarterly. With its open submission policy, ''The Missouri Review'' receives 12,000 manuscripts ...

'' * "Spaghetti Western" at

Split This Rock {{Short description, American national nonprofit organization of poets, artists, and activists Split This Rock is a national nonprofit organization of poets, artists, and activists based in Washington, D.C. The organization's stated goals are: To ...

* "Forget the Song" at ''California Journal of Poetics'' * "Famous Tombs" at ''

'' * "Kentucky, September" at ''DIAGRAM''

Scholarship and criticism

* "Soot Moth: ''Biston Betularia'' and the Victorian End of Nature," co-authored with Nathan K. Hensley, at ''BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth Century History'' * "Blake in/of Time: Presentism and Literary Form" at ''V21: Victorian Studies for the 21st Century'' * "Astralize the Night," review of

Anne Carson Anne Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor. Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across the Unit ...

's ''Float'' at ''

'' * "On Canine Dasein," review of

Frank Bidart Frank Bidart (born May 27, 1939) is an American academic and poet, and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Biography Bidart is a native of California and considered a career in acting or directing when he was young. In 1957, he began to s ...

's ''Metaphysical Dog'', at ''

'' * "Learn Your Lesson / From the Calf:

Rebecca Gayle Howell Rebecca Gayle Howell (born August 10, 1975, in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American writer, literary translator, and editor. In 2019 she was named a United States Artists Fellow. Education Howell was born to a working-class family in Lexington, ...

's ''Render/An Apocalypse'' at '' Kenyon Review Online'' * Review of ''Illocality'' by Joseph Massey at ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, John 1987 births Living people 21st-century American poets Writers from Long Beach, California Poets from California Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Poets from Kentucky Georgetown University alumni Bellarmine University alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Bellarmine University faculty University of the District of Columbia faculty Georgetown University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni