Jake Adam York
Encyclopedia
Jake Adam York is an American poet
. He has published three books of poetry: Murder Ballads, which won the 2005 Elixir Prize in Poetry; A Murmuration of Starlings, which won the 2008 Colorado Book Award in Poetry; and Persons Unknown, an editor's selection in the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry.
, but raised in Alabama
. He was educated at Auburn University
and Cornell University
. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver
, where he is also the Director of Creative Writing and an editor of "Copper Nickel" He has served as an editor for storySouth
and as a Contributing Editor for Shenandoah
.
Pulitzer-Prize winning author Natasha Trethewey
described A Murmuration of Starlings as "a fierce, beautiful, necessary book. Fearless in their reckoning, these poems resurrect contested histories and show us that the past—with its troubled beauty, its erasures, and its violence—weighs upon us all . . . a murmuration so that we don't forget, so that no one disappears into history."
In 2009, he was the University of Mississippi's Summer Poet in Residence. On February 14, 2010, York was awarded the Third Coast Poetry Prize.
In the Spring of 2011, he will be the Richard B. Thomas Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. He has published three books of poetry: Murder Ballads, which won the 2005 Elixir Prize in Poetry; A Murmuration of Starlings, which won the 2008 Colorado Book Award in Poetry; and Persons Unknown, an editor's selection in the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry.
Life
York was born in West Palm Beach, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, but raised in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. He was educated at Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver
University of Colorado Denver
The University of Colorado Denver, shortened as CU Denver, UC Denver, or UCD, is a public university in the United States state of Colorado. It is one of three schools of the University of Colorado system. The university has two campuses — one in downtown Denver at the Auraria Campus, and the other...
, where he is also the Director of Creative Writing and an editor of "Copper Nickel" He has served as an editor for storySouth
StorySouth
storySouth is an online quarterly literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, criticism, essays, and visual artwork, with a focus on the Southern United States. The journal also runs the annual Million Writers Award to select the best short stories published each year in online magazines or...
and as a Contributing Editor for Shenandoah
Shenandoah (magazine)
Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee Review is a major literary magazine published by Washington and Lee University.- History :Originally a student-run quarterly, Shenandoah has evolved into a triannual literary journal edited by author R. T...
.
Poetry
York's poetry has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The New Orleans Review, The Oxford American, Poetry Daily, Quarterly West, and The Southern Review. His first book of poems, Murder Ballads, won the 2005 Elixir Prize in Poetry. His sophomore book, A Murmuration of Starlings, won the 2008 Colorado Book Award in Poetry and was published through the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry. His third book, Persons Unknown, was published in 2010 as an editor's selection in the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry by Southern Illinois University Press.Pulitzer-Prize winning author Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey is an American poet who won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her 2006 collection, Native Guard.Trethewey was born in Gulfport, Mississippi. She earned the A.B. in English from the University of Georgia, an M.A. in poetry from Hollins University, and an M.F.A. in poetry from...
described A Murmuration of Starlings as "a fierce, beautiful, necessary book. Fearless in their reckoning, these poems resurrect contested histories and show us that the past—with its troubled beauty, its erasures, and its violence—weighs upon us all . . . a murmuration so that we don't forget, so that no one disappears into history."
In 2009, he was the University of Mississippi's Summer Poet in Residence. On February 14, 2010, York was awarded the Third Coast Poetry Prize.
In the Spring of 2011, he will be the Richard B. Thomas Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College.
Selected publications
- Persons Unknown (Southern Illinois Press, 2010)
- Murmuration of Starlings (Southern Illinois University Press, 2008)
- Ballads (Elixir Press, 2005)
Poems
- Self-Portrait in the Town Where I Was Born at Verse Daily
- A Natural History of Mississippi at Poetry Daily
- Four poems on video at Southern Spaces
- Four poems at Diode
- Selections from A Map of the County at RealPoetik
- Four poems at Blackbird
- Three Poems at Cambell Corner
- 'Elegy for James Knox' at DIAGRAM
- 'Signal at DIAGRAM
- 'Interferometry' at Greensboro Review
- Seven poems at H_NGM_N
- 'Legba Says' in Octopus
- Three Poems at Terrain.org
- Three Poems in Typo
- 'Radiotherapy' at Poetry 365
- Two Poems at Shampoo Poetry
Reviews and essays
- 'Recovery: Learning the Music of History' at Terrain.org
- 'The Marrow of the Bone of Contention' at storySouth, an Arts and Letters Daily 2003 article of note.
Interviews
Reviews
So let me answer it straight-out: Context matters, but good poetry is not bound by it. Jake Adam York’s Murder Ballads — a collection of 35 poems in four parts, published by Elixir Press — is a book where context matters. But the finely crafted poems—what Shenandoah editor R.T. Smith rightly calls York’s “demanding poetic”—are not bound by that context.
York’s study into the Civil Rights Movement is not meant to be an indictment of the American consciousness; rather, he strives to present the stories of these persons unknown so that his reader cannot help but reflect on this murderous chapter in American history. He never sinks into oblique facts, but he does not forget them, either. He never ignores the simple truth that he is writing poetry, and crafts a collection that is moving and substantial. Persons Unknown is a necessary addition to the oeuvre of civil rights literature and the conversation it (still) invokes.
External links
- Author's website
- Jake Adam York, "Jake Adam York interviews Natasha Trethewey". Southern Spaces, 25 June 2010. http://southernspaces.org/2010/jake-adam-york-interviews-natasha-trethewey
- Jake Adam York, "Anniversary", Southern Spaces, 15 April 2010. http://southernspaces.org/2010/anniversary
- Jake Adam York, "In the Queen City: A Reading at the Gadsden Public Library" Southern Spaces, 1 April 2008. http://southernspaces.org/2008/queen-city-reading-gadsden-public-library
- Jake Adam York, "A Field Guide to Northeast Alabama" Southern Spaces, 7 March 2008. http://southernspaces.org/2008/field-guide-northeast-alabama