Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Prairie Schooner ''Prairie Schooner'' is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first publish ...

Poets & Writers Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organizations in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The organization publishes a bi-monthly magazine called ''Poets & Writers Magazine'', ...

Brittle Paper ''Brittle Paper'' is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

Institute of Jamaica The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation:"Dawes, Kwame (b. 1962)"
in Tom Mack (ed.), ''The South Carolina Encyclopedia Guide to South Carolina Writers'', University of South Carolina Press, 2014. Growing up in Jamaica, Kwame Dawes attended

Jamaica College Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a public, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for boys in Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles Drax, who was the grand-nephew of wealthy Barbadian sugar planter J ...

and the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

at Mona, where he received a BA degree in 1983. He studied and taught in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada, on a

Commonwealth Scholarship The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. History The plan was originally proposed b ...

. In 1992 he earned a PhD in Comparative Literature 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 Ameri ...

, where he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, ''

The Brunswickan ''The Brunswickan'' is the official student newspaper of the Fredericton campus of the University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada. It has a circulation of 4,000 and issues are published on the first Wednesday each month, traditionally run ...

''.

Career

From 1992 to 2012 Dawes taught at the University of South Carolina (USC) as a Professor in English, Distinguished Poet in Residence, Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, and Director of the USC Arts Institute. He was also the faculty advisor for the publication '' Yemassee''. He won the 1994 Forward Poetry Prize, Best First Collection for ''Progeny of Air''. He is currently a Chancellor's Professor of English and Editor-in-Chief of ''Prairie Schooner'' at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, a faculty member of Cave Canem, and a teacher in the Pacific MFA program in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Dawes collaborated with San Francisco-based writer and composer Kevin Simmonds on ''Wisteria: Twilight Songs from the Swamp Country'', which debuted at London's

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

in 2006, and featured sopranos Valetta Brinson and Valerie Johnson. In 2009, Dawes won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in the category of New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture. His project documented

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

in Jamaica, interspersed with poetry, photography by Andre Lambertson, and music by Kevin Simmonds. The website Livehopelove.com is the culmination of his project. He is director of the

Calabash International Literary Festival The Calabash International Literary Festival is a three-day festival in Jamaica staged on a biennial basis on even years (having been held annually in its first decade).

, a yearly event in Jamaica. In 2014, the African Poetry Book Fund arose, with Dawes as the founding editor. He and five other internationally regarded poets serve on the reading board to annually publish the winning manuscript of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, a new and selected/collected volume by a major living African poet, the New-Generation African Poets Chapbook Boxset (comprising collected chapbooks of emerging writers, with special emphasis on those who have not yet published a full-length collection), and contemporary works of new poetry by select African poets (solicited and unsolicited manuscripts). In 2018, Dawes was elected a Chancellor of the

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 ...

. In 2019 he was one of the eight recipients of the Windham-Campbell Prize, alongside

Ishion Hutchinson Ishion Hutchinson is a Jamaican poet and essayist. Biography Hutchinson was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He received a BA from the University of the West Indies, an MFA from New York University, and completed graduate studies at the Universit ...

(Jamaica), Danielle McLaughlin (Ireland),

David Chariandy David Chariandy is a Canadian writer. His parents immigrated to Canada from Trinidad in the 1960s. He was born in Scarborough, Ontario. His father is from South Asian descent, whereas his mother is African. They were both working class immigra ...

(Canada),

Raghu Karnad Raghu Karnad is an Indian journalist and writer, and a recipient of the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for Non-Fiction. He is a 2022-'23 fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Librar ...

(India),

Rebecca Solnit Rebecca Solnit (born 1961) is an American writer. She has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art. Early life and education Solnit was born in 1961 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a Jewish fa ...

(US),

Young Jean Lee Young Jean Lee is an American playwright, director, and filmmaker. She was the Artistic Director of Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, a not-for-profit theater company dedicated to producing her work. She has written and directed ten shows for Yo ...

(US) and

Patricia Cornelius Patricia Cornelius is an Australian playwright and co-founder of Melbourne Workers Theatre. Plays Cornelius has written more than 20 plays, which include ''Slut'' (2008, Platform Youth Theatre), ''The Call'' (2009, Griffin Theatre Company), '' ...

(Australia). In 2021 Dawes succeeded

Ted Kooser Theodore J. Kooser (born 25 April 1939) is an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poets laureate selec ...

as host of the news column ''American Life in Poetry''.

Awards and honours

*1994:

Forward Poetry Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

(Best First Collection) *1996: Individual Artist Fellowship *2000: Poetry Business Prize *2000: Hollis Summers Poetry Prize *2001:

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

for Poetry (US) *2003:

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

(Caribbean and Canada Region, Best First Book) *2009:

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

– New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture *2019: Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in Poetry. *2022:

Brittle Paper ''Brittle Paper'' is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral ...

's Literary Person of the Year.

Works