James Galvin (born 1951) is the author of seven volumes of poetry, and two novels. He teaches at the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...

Biography

James Galvin was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1951 and was raised in

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...

. He earned a BA from

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

in 1974 and a MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1977. After receiving his MFA, Galvin taught at Murray State University in Kentucky for two years and

Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universi ...

in California for three years. He later joined the faculty at the prestigious

where he continues to teach each year. Galvin has published seven poetry collections and a compilation of his work, ''Resurrection Update: Collected Poems 1975–1997'' (

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both pop ...

, 1997). Galvin is also the author of the prose book ''The Meadow'' ( Henry Holt, 1992), which recounts the hundred-year history of a ranch on the

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

–

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

border; and the novel ''Fencing the Sky'' (Henry Holt, 1999), about the destruction of

rangelands Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savann ...

and concomitant social changes in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

. Galvin has been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Galvin divides his time between Iowa City, and

Awards

* Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Foundation Award * Lannan Literary Award 2002 * Guggenheim Fellowship * Ingram Merrill Fellowship *

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 * Finalist, the

Los Angeles Times Book Award Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ...

and the

Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize 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 ...

for ''Resurrection Update: Collected Poems 1975-1997''

Selected poetry collections

* ''Everything We Always Knew Was True'' (

, 2016) * ''As Is'' (

, 2009) * ''X: poems'' (

, 2003) * ''Resurrection Update: Collected Poems 1975-1997'' (

, 1997) * ''Lethal Frequencies'' (

, 1995) * ''Elements'' (1988) * ''God's Mistress'' (1984) * ''Imaginary Timber'' (1980)

Fiction

*''The Meadow'' (Henry Holt, 1992) *''Fencing the Sky'' (Henry Holt, 1999)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galvin, James American male poets Antioch College alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Living people 1951 births