Curriculum Vitae
JESSE KENDALL GRAVES
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
EDUCATION
• THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, Knoxville, TN
PhD in Creative Writing, Poetry, August 2008
Dissertation: “Field Portrait,” directed by Arthur Smith
• CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, NY
MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry, August 2000
• THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, Knoxville, TN
BA, 1997, Major: English, Minor: Philosophy
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Creative Writing; Poetry and Poetics; Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American Literature; Personal Essay and Creative Non-fiction; Southern and Appalachian Writing, Language, and Culture; British and American Modernism; Romantic Poetry; Poetics of Song Lyrics; Writing on Ecology and Environment
PUBLICATIONS
• POETRY BOOKS; POEMS IN JOURNALS AND ANTHOLOGIES
Basin Ghosts, second full-length collection of poems, published spring 2014, Texas Review Press, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M UP Consortium
Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, full-length collection of poems, published fall 2011, Texas Review Press, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M UP Consortium
“Plaintive Lives,” North American Review, forthcoming Fall 2016
“September Songs,” Epoch, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Astronomy,” Southern Cultures, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Barn Swallows,” Appalachian Heritage, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Edith,” Appalachian Heritage, forthcoming Spring 2016
“The Field at Rest,” Appalachian Heritage, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Katie Myers,” Blackbird, forthcoming Spring 2016
“At the Piano Recital,” Appalachian Journal, forthcoming Spring 2016
“The Black Dot,” Bluestem, forthcoming Spring 2016
“A Confederate Soldier in Union County,” The Pikeville Review, Spring 2016
“Upper Chambers,” The Pikeville Review, forthcoming Spring 2016
“East Running Spring,” The Pikeville Review, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Elegy,” Valparaiso Poetry Review, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Raft,” Still: The Journal, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Siren,” Still: The Journal, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Jewel,” Still: The Journal, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Mossy Springs,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Garden District,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Rooms Feel So Quiet,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Swan Calls,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“The Residual Site,” The Carolina Quarterly, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Substrata,” The Carolina Quarterly, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Cavern,” The Carolina Quarterly, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Holocene,” Louisiana Literature, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Indolence,” Louisiana Literature, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Chipping Arrowheads,” Louisiana Literature, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Most Distant Antiquity,” Journal of Florida Studies, Winter 2016
“In a Familiar City,” Southern Poetry Review, Fall 2015
“Arrhythmia,” Cape Rock Journal, Fall 2015
“Ancestors,” drafthorse, Summer 2015
“Get Right with God,” drafthorse, Summer 2015
“Field-tender’s Hymnal,” drafthorse, Summer 2015
“Vessel,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Tenor at Dawn,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Salt,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Pitch,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Creek Source,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Analogue,” South Carolina Review, Fall 2014
“Worksong,” South Carolina Review, Fall 2014
“Ghosts of Jackson Avenue,” Texas Review, Summer 2014
“Van Zandt Dream #4,” Texas Review, Summer 2014
“Stray,” Texas Review, Summer 2014
“Blank Verse for Tim Duncan,” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, June 8, 2014
“Anaphora for Manu Ginobili,” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, June 8, 2014
“Alexandrines for Tony Parker,” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, June 8, 2014
“Listening at Dusk,” Broad River Review, Spring 2014
“The Invitations,” Broad River Review, Spring 2014
“Rest full of light,” Motif Anthology, Vol. 4: Water, Spring 2014
“Blue,” Inscape , Spring 2014
“Cards,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“Cool Concentration,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“Secret in the Woods,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“Woodland Cathedral,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“AM Radio,” Appalachian Heritage, Spring 2014
“Fortune,” Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Winter 2013
“Veil,” Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Winter 2013
“Time’s Weave,” Appalachian Heritage, Winter 2013
“Asia,” Now & Then Magazine, Winter 2013
“Roan Mountain Recitative,” The Emancipator, Spring 2013
“Vocabulary Lesson,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Cinnamon,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Childhood,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Reading Late,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Source,” Appalachian Heritage, Fall 2012
“The Kingdom of the Dead,” Missouri Review, Summer 2012
“Big Elm Point,” Appalachian Heritage, Winter 2011
“St. Paul,” Prairie Schooner, Fall 2011
“Johnson’s Ground,” Prairie Schooner, Fall 2011
“Deep Corner,” Aethlon, Fall 2011
“Bayou Storm,” Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IV: Louisiana, Fall 2011
“The Night Café: North Rendon, New Orleans,” Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IV: Louisiana, Fall 2011
“Faubourg Marigny,” Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IV: Louisiana, Fall 2011
“The Road into the Lake,” The Texas Review, Fall 2011
“Revivals,” The Texas Review, Fall 2011
“Sparrow,” The Texas Review, Fall 2011
“Water Washing Away,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“Wellsprings,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“Tennessee History,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“The Wilderness Trail,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“Emissaries,” Shawangunk Review, Spring 2011
“Wild Strawberries at St. Mary’s Hospital,” Shawangunk Review, Spring 2011
“The Donkey on the Road,” Town Creek Poetry, Winter 2010
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2010
“Grace Notes,” Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, Shepherd University Press, 2010
“Reservation Snapshot,” Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, Shepherd University Press, 2010
“Facing West from Cumberland Gap,” Pembroke Magazine, 2010
“Digging the Pond,” Tar River Poetry, 2009
“The Pier at 5 AM,” Kestrel, 2009
“Echolalia,” Louisiana Literature, 2009
“At Seven,” Louisiana Literature, 2009
“A Short Life of Trouble,” Motif: Writing by Ear, 2009
“My Sister at Sea,” South Carolina Review, 2009
“Field Portrait,” Connecticut Review, 2009
“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008
“Firing Order,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008
“River Gods,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008
“Equations,” descant, Volume 47, 2008
“Late Summer Woodcut,” Potomac Review, (Issue 43), 2008
“Wrightsville Beach,” Pisgah Review, (2.1), 2008
“For the Frozen Wood,” Pisgah Review, (2.1), 2008
“His Confession,” Bat City Review, (Vol. 3), 2007
“The Sunken Mill,” CrossRoads: A Southern Culture Annual, Mercer UP, 2006
“Picture It,” New Millennium Writings, (16:1), 2006
“Detroit Muscle,” Now & Then, (21:2), 2006
“Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake,” New Millennium Writings, (15:1), 2006
“Blueprints,” Knoxville Bound: A Collection of Literary Works Inspired by Knoxville, Tennessee, 2005
“Red Lines,” Knoxville Bound: A Collection of Literary Works Inspired by Knoxville, Tennessee, 2005
“Trade,” Southern Poetry Review, (41:2), 2002
“The Upper Ridge,” The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, (12:2)
“The Locust Bush,” The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, (12:2)
“West of Raleigh,” Roanoke Review, (27:1)
“Taylor’s Grove,” Roanoke Review, (27:1)
“Middle-of-Night Madrigals,” Windsor Review, (32:1)
“September 18,” Windsor Review, (32:1)
“Minor Explosions,” Windsor Review, (32:1)
“Pretty Music,” Yemassee, (5:2)
“Essentials,” Cape Rock Journal, (31:2)
“White Scars,” Now & Then, (15:2)
“New Year’s Day,” All Around Us: Poems from the Valley, 1996
• POEMS REPRINTED IN ANTHOLOGIES, JOURNALS, AND NEWSPAPERS
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry, University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2016
“Firing Order,” repr. Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry, University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2016
“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine,” repr. Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry, University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2016
“Arrhythmia,” The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins, forthcoming Fall 2016
“Goldengrove,” The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins, forthcoming Fall 2016
“Digging the Pond,” repr. Anthology of Appalachian Literature, University of Kentucky Press, forthcoming 2016
“Mother’s Milk,” repr. Anthology of Appalachian Literature, University of Kentucky Press, forthcoming 2016
“Reading Late,” repr. The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, June 18, 2015
“Source,” repr. Spring 2013, Appalachian Heritage, Special 40th Anniversary Issue
“Digging the Pond,” repr. The Emancipator, Spring 2013
“Digging the Pond,” repr. Chapter 16, Summer 2012
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Motif 3: An Anthology of Writings about Work, Fall 2011
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Rapid River, December 2010
“Digging the Pond,” repr. Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Winter 2010
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Winter 2010
“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine,” repr. Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Winter 2010
“Digging the Pond,” repr. The Magnolia Quarterly, Fall 2010
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. The Magnolia Quarterly, Fall 2010
“Firing Order,” repr. The Magnolia Quarterly, Fall 2010
“Red Lines,” repr. Metro Pulse (Knoxville Bound feature), (14:48)
• EDITED COLLECTIONS
James Agee, Complete Poems, forthcoming from University of Tennessee Press, 2016. I was solicited by Series Editor and UT Professor Michael Lofaro to co-edit this edition, Volume 9 in the Collected Works of James Agee series by UT Press.
The Robert Morgan Companion, appearing from McFarland & Company Publishers in late 2016, is a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs about the poet and fiction writer Robert Morgan. It will bring together important early essays about his life and work, as well as newly solicited perspectives on his writing. I am co-editor with Robert West of Mississippi State University; I will contribute an essay on the link between family history and literature in Morgan’s work.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VII: North Carolina, a volume of poetry including more than 100 poets from the state, published by Texas Review Press, member, Texas A&M UP Consortium in early 2015. I am co-editor with William Wright and Paul Ruffin on this project.
Jeff Daniel Marion, Poet on the Holston, has been accepted and given a contract for publication by University of Tennessee Press, expected in fall of 2015. Essays will be drawn from the Jeff Daniel Marion Festival at Carson-Newman University, and from solicited new and previously published essays. I was selected by the conference organizers to lead the editorial team in this process.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee, a volume of poetry that includes more than 120 poets from the state, and was published by Texas Review Press, member, Texas A&M UP Consortium in fall 2013. I am co-editor and Foreword co-author with William Wright and Paul Ruffin on this project.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, a volume of poetry that includes 80 poets from the region, and was published by Texas Review Press, member, Texas A&M UP Consortium in December 2010. I am co-editor with William Wright and Paul Ruffin on this project, and I contributed the editor’s introduction. It fills a significant gap in the field, and is the first anthology of contemporary Appalachian poetry. Finalist for the 2010 Weatherford Award in Poetry from the Appalachian Studies Association.
Guest Editor: The Southern Quarterly, Spring 2010, 47/1. This was a special issue which I proposed for one of the oldest and most distinguished journals devoted to Southern literature. It was titled “A Community across Time: The Poetry and Prose of Robert Morgan.” I solicited and edited fourteen essays, five book reviews, new work from the featured author, and wrote an editor’s introduction to the issue. The issue provides valuable new perspectives on Appalachia’s most widely read living author.
Outscape: Writings on Fences and Frontiers (with Jessie Janeshek), The Knoxville
Writers’ Guild, 2008. A collection of writing from East Tennessee on the broad topic of fences and frontiers, with contributors ranging from first-time authors to Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Wright.
• ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS, AND REVIEWS
“Parallel Poetics: Ways of Seeing in James Agee and Federico Garcia Lorca,” Let Us Now Praise Famous Men at 75: Anniversary Essays, edited by Michael A. Lofaro, University of Tennessee Press, forthcoming 2016. This essay considers many surprising parallels in the style and vision of two major early Twentieth Century writers, with an emphasis on their two most discussed works, Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and Lorca’s Poet in New York.
“Awake in Their Wide Pastures: Formal Design the Poems of Robert Morgan and Ron Rash,” Summoning the Dead: Critical Essays on Ron Rash, forthcoming 2016, University of South Carolina Press. This article picks up certain themes of my earlier essay “Lattice Work,” and expands on them by including more recent work by poets, and examining other elements of technique in their poems.
“Waltzing through the Mysterium: The Evolving Role of Music in the Poetry of David Bottoms,” South Carolina Review, forthcoming Fall 2016. This essay examines a central theme in the work of a major contemporary Southern poet, and considers certain stylistic developments within Bottoms’ poetry, and they align with other significant American poets.
“The People and Places of Robert Morgan: An Essay and Photo Gallery,” Robert Morgan Companion, McFarland & Company Publishers, forthcoming 2016. This is a biographical essay about my mentor Robert Morgan, which includes photographs and an appendix detailing the fictional and poetic portrayals of Morgan family members and the influence of his native North Carolina on his work.
“Poetry of the Appalachian Renaissance,” Section Introduction, Anthology of Appalachian Literature, forthcoming 2016, University of Kentucky Press. This is an editorial introduction to a chapter in an important university-press anthology, on one of the most dynamic periods for poetry in the history of Appalachian literature.
“Fifty Years of Reading Cormac McCarthy: A Round-table Discussion with John Banville, Jesse Graves, Andres Hax, and Kevin Rabalais,” Sacred Trespasses, winter 2015. This is a wide-ranging discussion between writers about one of America’s great novelists.
“An Interview with Jeff Daniel Marion.” This is a new interview with the poet, recorded for inclusion in Jeff Daniel Marion: Poet on the Holston, fall 2016.
Review of Letters to the Dead: A Memoir, by Jeff Daniel Marion, Appalachian Journal, forthcoming Spring 2016.
Review of Long Man: A Novel, by Amy Greene, Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2014.
“The Wide Embrace of Jeff Daniel Marion,” Chapter 16, the online journal of the Tennessee Humanities Council, Spring 2013. This was an essay solicited by the journal to commemorate my relationship with one of my literary friends and mentors, the celebrated East Tennessee poet Jeff Daniel Marion.
“The Return of the Native Speaker: Maurice Manning’s Dramatic Voices,” Iron Mountain Review, 2013 volume. This essay concerns the work of one of America’s most celebrated younger poets. It addresses Manning’s use of various forms of monologue in his poetry, and the traditions behind them.
“An Interview with Robert Morgan,” The Georgia Review, Spring 2012. I conducted this interview in spring 2010 when Mr. Morgan visited ETSU for a reading of his poetry and fiction. It covers such topics as his new books, his upbringing and family life, and his literary influences.
“A Blind Work of Nature: The Ethics of Representing Beauty in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” in James Agee at 100: Centennial Essays, edited by Michael Lofaro, University of Tennessee Press, Spring 2012. This essay takes a new perspective on role of beauty, as an ethical dimension, in Agee’s most celebrated and discussed book.
“Still Holding at the Seams: Magnolia Electric Co.’s ‘Josephine’ and the Contemporary Poetic Sequence,” in The Poetics of American Song Lyrics, edited by Charlotte Pence, University of Mississippi Press, Spring 2012. This essay examines two of my long-standing interests in relation to one another: the nature of the lyric poem, and the artistic interrelation of music and poetry.
I am interviewed by Denton Loving for The Emancipator journal at Lincoln Memorial University, discussing my writing and relationship to the region, 2012.
Review of Still in Print: The Southern Novel Today, edited by Jan Nordby Gretlund, Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012.
Review of Lambs of Men: A Novel by Charles Dodd White, Journal of Appalachian Studies, Spring 2012.
“The Single Seam in the The Double Dream of Spring: Natural Sublime in the Poetry of John Ashbery,” South Carolina Review, Winter 2011. This journal article considers an undervalued aspect of a major contemporary poet. While Ashbery is known more as an experimentalist, my essay places him within a long-standing Romantic tradition, and discusses both his influences and his inversions of those influences.
I am the featured writer for the Fall 2010 issue of The Magnolia Quarterly, which reprinted three of my published poems, and includes commentary on my work by the journal’s poetry editor, John Freeman.
I am the featured writer in a Fall 2010 interview about my work, conducted by William Barnes, editor of The Volunteer Review, a student-run literary and arts magazine at the University of Tennessee.
Review of Mother Land: Poems by Linda Parsons Marion, Louisiana Literature, Summer 2010.
“Tennessee Said-Song: Dialect in Appalachian Poetry,” an essay in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, Shepherd University Press, 2010. This is a personal essay on my own poetic practice, but also examines how other Southern poets use dialect and localized language in their poems.
Encyclopedia Entry: “R.L. Burnside,” in The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Music Section, University of Tennessee Press, 2010. An entry on an important Mississippi Hill Country blues musician, in the updated digital edition of the book.
“Lattice Work: Formal Tendencies in the Recent Poetry of Robert Morgan and Ron Rash,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008. This essay looks at the use of poetic forms in the work of two important contemporary poets.
Review of Southern Appalachian Poetry, edited by Marita Garin; Sandra Ballard, ed. Appalachian Journal, Fall 2009.
Review of Charles Wright: A Companion to the Late Poetry, 1988-2007 by Robert D. Denham; Sandra Ballard, ed. Appalachian Journal, Spring 2009.
“Words with Ron Rash,” (interview) Grist, 2008 (Issue 1); reprinted in Serena: A Novel paperback with reader’s guide, by Ron Rash, Ecco, 2009; reprinted in Conversations with Ron Rash, University of Mississippi Press, forthcoming Fall 2016.
“An Interview with John Rice Irwin,” Outscape, 2008. My conversation with the founder of The Museum of Appalachia.
Reference Book Entries: “Guy Davenport,” “Jeff Daniel Marion,” and “Albert Murray,” The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 9, Literature. M. Thomas Inge, ed. University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, AND PRESENTATIONS
• Panel Participant, “James Agee and Southern Poetry,” St. George Tucker Society Annual Meeting, Asheville, NC, July 2016
• Workshop Leader, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, June 2016
• Workshop Leader, Tennessee Mountain Writers Annual Conference, Oak Ridge, TN, April 2016
• Invited Reading, Stephenson Lecture Series, Lees-McRae College, with Don Johnson, Banner Elk, NC, November 2015
• Award Reception, Induction into East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, Friends of Literacy, Knoxville, TN, October 2015
• Panel Participant, “Country Music and Appalachian Literature,” The Appalachian Symposium, Berea College, Berea, KY, September 2015
• Invited Reader, with Robert Gipe and Denton Loving, Union Avenue Books, Knoxville, TN, September 2015
• Featured Poet, Writers’ Day, Virginia Highlands Festival, Abingdon, VA, July 2015
• Workshop Leader, Tennessee Young Writers’ Workshop, Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN, July 2015
• Invited Reading, Mary B. Martin School of the Arts Volunteer Event, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, April 2015
• Invited Reading, Fellowship of Southern Writers Celebration for Award Winners for Poetry, Chattanooga, TN, April 2015
• Invited Speaker, Tables of Content Series, Charles C. Sherrod Library, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, April 2015
• Invited Reading and Class Visit, Pellissippi State Community College, April 2015
• Panel Chair and Participant, Poetry Reading by Jesse Graves, Don Johnson, and Jeff Daniel Marion, Appalachian Studies Association Annual Conference, East Tennessee State University, March 2015
• Invited Reading and Workshop, Cornell University, Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series, November 2014
• “Care, Revelation, and Innovation in the Margins: Karen McElmurray’s Digital Letters,” with Bethann Bowman, Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA, October 2014
• Invited Reader, Young Harris College, Georgia, October 2014
• Panel Participant, “Readings from the New Rough South,” Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, October 2014
• Invited Featured Reader, Abingdon VA Friends of the Library Series, April 2014
• “An Evening of Tennessee Poetry,” Johnson City Public Library, host and reader, April 2014
• Invited Reader, with William Wright, ETSU Prominent Poets Series, April 2014
• Workshop Leader, Appalachian Young Writers’ Workshop, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, June 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
• Invited Reading, Carson-Newman University, November 2013. I gave a public reading, and spoke at the annual banquet for C-N honors students.
• Invited Reading, Appalachian Writers Series at Lincoln Memorial University, October 2013. I gave a public reading of my poetry, and a presentation to students and local community.
• Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award Ceremony, Morehead State University, Kentucky, October 2013. A two-day event, in which I met students and community members at Morehead, then gave a public reading and received this year’s Chaffin Award.
• Panel Chair, and Reader, “Introducing the Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee,” at the Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, TN, October 2013, where I chaired or read on four panels
• “Letters to the Earth: Songs and Poems of Conservation,” Ijams Nature Center, Knoxville, TN, September, 2013, where I read with Marilyn Kallet, Jeff Daniel Marion, Linda Parsons Marion, R.B. Morris, and Arthur Smith
• Panel Chair, “James Agee in Literary Context,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2013
• Invited Speaker, Jeff Daniel Marion Literary Festival, where I read my essay, “The Wide Embrace of Jeff Daniel Marion,” Carson-Newman University, April 2013
• Panel Chair, and Reader, “New Appalachian Writing,” a reading and roundtable discussion with Karen Salyer McElmurray, Mark Powell, and Charles Dodd White, Appalachian Studies Association Conference, March 2013
• Featured Poet, Eureka College Literary Festival, Eureka, IL, March 2013, where I gave a public reading from my poetry, and lead two poetry writing workshops
• Featured Poet, Mildred Haun Festival, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN, February 2013, where I lead a poetry writing workshop and gave a public reading
• Invited Panelist, “The Influence of Jeff Daniel Marion,” Mildred Haun Festival, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN, February 2013
• Invited Speaker, "Return of the Native Speaker: Maurice Manning's Appalachian Dramatic Monologues," Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA, October 2012
• Poetry Reading, Carson- Newman University, Jefferson City, TN, October 2012. I gave the 2012 Henrietta Jenkins Annual Poetry Reading.
• Poetry Reading, Gardner-Webb University, October, 2012. I read poems at the Awards Banquet for the Southern Appalachian Culture Series.
• Workshop Leader, Cumberland Gap Young Writers’ Workshop, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, July 2012
• Presenter, “Interpreting Dialect in Appalachian Poetry,” Appalachian Studies Association Conference, March 2012
• Panel Chair and Presenter, “The Continuing Influence of the Greater Romantic Lyric,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA, November 2011
• Workshop Leader, I taught a week-long poetry writing class at the 34th Annual Appalachian Writers’ Workshop in Hindman, KY, July 31-August 5, 2011. As part of my staff appointment, I gave a public reading at the Hindman Settlement School on Wednesday, August 3, with writers Lee Smith and George Ella Lyon
• Poetry Reading, Appalachian Studies Association Conference, Eastern Kentucky University, 2011. I gave a reading of my work from the Shepherd University Anthology of Appalachian Writers.
• Host and Panel Chair, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Mildred Haun Festival, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN, 2011
• Presenter, South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Atlanta, GA, 2010.
• Invited Speaker, roundtable discussion on poet/novelist Ron Rash, Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs, NC, 2011
• Presenter, “Before He Won the West: Reading the Tennessee Novels of Cormac McCarthy,” Western Writers of America Conference, Knoxville, TN, June 2010
• Presenter, “Waltzing through the Mysterium: Music in the Poetry of David Bottoms,” Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, New Orleans, April 2010
• Panel Chair, “A Discussion of The Southern Quarterly Special Issue: The Poetry and Prose of Robert Morgan,” Appalachian Studies Association Conference, Dahlonega, GA, March 2010
• Presenter, “Anthologizing Appalachian Literature,” Appalachian Studies Association Conference in Dahlonega, GA, March 2010
• Guest Lecturer, “Writing Your Own Life,” Ninth Grade Honors English Classes, University High School, East Tennessee State University, February 2010
• Poetry Reading, with Ron Giles and John Morefield, East Tennessee State University, November 2009
• Poetry Reading, with Robert Morgan and Fred Chappell, “Student, Teacher, Writer,” North Carolina Literary Festival, UNC-Chapel Hill, September 2009
• Panel Chair, “James Agee at 100,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2009
• Presenter, “Teaching Historical Research in English 102,” First Year Composition Curriculum Panel, University of Tennessee, December 2008
• Presenter, “James Still and the Continuing Influence of His Poetry,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Louisville, KY, November 2008
• Guest Lecturer, “Free Verse and the American Idiom,” English 363 Advanced Poetry Writing (Professor Marilyn Kallet) University of Tennessee, October 2008
• Guest Lecturer, “Workshop Leader Graduate Student Poetry,” English 585 (Professor Marilyn Kallet) University of Tennessee, October 2008· Panel Chair, “A Community across Time: The Poetry and Prose of Robert Morgan,” American Literature Association, San Francisco, CA, May 2008
• Respondent, “New Directions in Agee Studies,” American Literature Association Conference, San Francisco, CA, May 2008
• Invited Lecturer, “Landscape and Geography in Appalachian Poetry,” Geography Department, Radford University, March 2008
• Invited Reader, Creative Writing Poetry Panel, Southern Humanities Council Conference, Knoxville, TN, February 2008
• Guest Lecturer, Dreamworks Poetry, English 485 (Professor Marilyn Kallet) University of Tennessee, February 2008
• Invited Reader and Presenter, “The Future of Writing in the South,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Atlanta, GA, November, 2007
• Presenter, “Lattice Work: Formal Tendencies in the Recent Poetry of Robert Morgan and Ron Rash,” Southern Appalachian Student Conference On Literature, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, October 2007
• Presenter, “Uncovering John Carter: Editorial Treatment of James Agee’s Forgotten Long Poem,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA , May 2007
• Keynote Speaker, Academic Achievers’ Banquet, Union County High School, Maynardville, TN, May 2007
• Presenter, “The Single Seam in The Double Dream of Spring: John Ashbery’s Natural Sublime,” Twentieth Century Louisville Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2007
• Invited Reader, Creative Writing Poetry Panel, Twentieth Century Louisville Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2007
• Guest Lecturer, “Poetry Is for Everyone,” Garden Montessori School, Knoxville, TN, December 2005
• Featured Reader, Knoxville Writers’ Guild Awards Gala, May 2005
• Guest Lecturer, “The Poetry of Adrienne Rich,” English 251, Introduction to Poetry (Professor Richard Finneran), University of Tennessee, November 2004 and April 2005.
• Featured Reader, Rothrock Café, Knoxville Public Library, April 2005
• Presenter, “Thomas Hardy’s Distraught Love Lyrics,” Twentieth Century Louisville Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2005
• Featured Reader, Writers in the Library, University of Tennessee, February 2006 and November 2004
• Session Leader, “Guiding Student Revisions,” Department of English Orientation for New Graduate Teaching Associates, University of Tennessee, August 2004
• Guest Lecturer, “Designing Meaningful Assignments,” Teaching in the University: Faculty Seminars, University of New Orleans, April 2003
• Presenter, “Teaching Developmental Writing,” Faculty Curriculum Panel, University of New Orleans Writing Center, February 2003
• Guest Lecturer, “The Art of the Student Conference,” Writing 700, John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, July 2002
• Presenter/Reader, “Cornell Poets,” Writing by Degrees: A Conference on Creative Writing, SUNY-Binghamton, April 2002
• Guest Lecturer, “Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady,” English 366: Nineteenth Century American Novel (Professor Dan McCall), November 2001
• Guest Lecturer, “On Melville’s ‘Bartleby,’” English 477: Emerson and Poe (Professor Robert Morgan), Cornell University, April 2001
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
• ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Department of Literature and Language, East Tennessee State University, August 2014- present
Teach ENGL 3141 Poetry Writing, ENGL 4022 American Poetry, ENGL 3010 Introduction to Poetry, ENGL 2220 American Literature since the Civil War, ENGL 2120 British Literature since the Romantic Period, ENGL 4957/5957 Special Topics in Southern and Appalachian Poetry, ENGL 3128 Honors Special Topics in “Writing and Region,” ENGL 1028 Honors Composition, ENGL 1020 First-Year Composition, UHON 1318 Artistic Vision II.
• ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Department of Literature and Language, East Tennessee State University, August 2009-2014
• POST-DOCTORAL LECTURER
English Department, The University of Tennessee, August 2008-August 2009
Teach Poetry Writing, Literature, and First-Year Composition courses, including “Introduction to Poetry Writing,” “Introduction to Poetry” (200 level literature course), “American Literature, 1865-Present,” and “Inquiry into Roots Music and Culture.”
• GRADUATE TEACHING ASSOCIATE
English Department, The University of Tennessee, 2003-2008
Taught and devised literature and composition courses including Introductory Level Creative Writing and First-Year Composition.
• FULL-TIME INSTRUCTOR
English Department, The University of New Orleans, 2002-2003
Taught literature and composition courses including “Introduction to Poetry and Drama,” “Introduction to Fiction,” “Developmental Writing,” and “Advanced Composition.”
• LECTURER AND GRADUATE TEACHING ASSOCIATE
English Department, Cornell University, 1999-2002
Taught and devised courses in the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines Teaching Writing Seminar, Creative Writing, Twentieth Century American Novel, Writing about Literature, Nineteenth Century American Novel, Cultural Studies, Personal Essay
ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
• Faculty Literary Editor, The Mockingbird, East Tennessee State University student literary magazine, 2010-present
• Faculty Advisor, Literati, East Tennessee State University student literary organization, 2009-present
• Department of Literature and Language, Graduate Committee, East Tennessee State University, 2013-present
• Sherrod Library Faculty Advisory Council, East Tennessee State University, 2013-present
• Selection Committee, Fine & Performing Arts Scholars, ETSU Honors College, 2011-present
• Contest Judge, Denny C. Plattner Award in Poetry, Appalachian Heritage, 2015
• Department of Literature and Language, Coordinator, Honors-in-Discipline, English, East Tennessee State University, Spring 2011-Spring 2014
• Department of Literature, Undergraduate Committee, East Tennessee State University, 2009-13
• College of Arts & Sciences, Basler Chair Selection Committee, East Tennessee State University, 2011-13
• Department of Literature and Language, Faculty Council, East Tennessee State University, 2009-11
• Master of Ceremonies for the Johnson City Public Library’s annual poetry reading and awards ceremony, June 2010. I renewed this role for National Poetry Month in April 2011 and 2012.
• George Scarbrough Poetry Contest Judge, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, Lincoln Memorial University, June 2012
• Poetry Contest Judge, Still : The Journal 2012
• Literary Awards Judge, MABUS/MAGUS, the literary arts journal of the Milton Academy in Milton, MA. This is a continuing role as judge for the literary journal, 2013-present
• Poetry Prize Judge, Echoes and Images Magazine, Northeast State Community College, 2011-12 issue
• Poetry Contest Judge, The Watauga Chapter of the National League of American Penwomen, October 2011
• Contest Judge, Tennessee Poetry Society, NE Chapter, Adult Category, March 2011
• Contest Judge, SASCOL, “Most Outstanding Research” Award, East Tennessee State University, September 2009
• Coordinator, Stokely Conference for Teaching Writing, “Teaching Appalachian Literature,” University of Tennessee, July 2009
• Contest Judge, Hodges Graduate Student Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, April 2009
• Associate Director, Writing Center, University of Tennessee, August 2008-August 2009
• Co-Coordinator, Stokely Conference for Teaching Writing, “Teaching the First-Person Narrative,” University of Tennessee, July 2007
• Acting Director of Composition, University of Tennessee Department of English, Summer 2006 and Summer 2007
• Assistant Director of Composition, University of Tennessee Department of English, Fall 2006 and Spring 2007
• Composition Committee Member, University of Tennessee Department of English, 2006-07
• Chair, Awards Selection Committee, Outstanding New Graduate Student Teacher Award, University of Tennessee, Spring 2007
• Chair, English 102 Textbook Selection Committee, University of Tennessee, Spring 2007
• Workshop Leader, Young Writers’ Institute, Mentorship Program for Area High School Students and Teachers, 1996-97, 2004-08.
• Chair, Best Practices Committee, University of Tennessee Graduate English Program (student), 2004-05
• Workshop Leader, Stokely Conference for Teaching Writing, University of Tennessee, July 2005
• Contest Judge, Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize (undergraduate), University of Tennessee, Spring 2005
• Writing Center Tutor, University of Tennessee, Spring 2005
• Workshop Leader, Arts in the Library, Special Section on Poetry, Knoxville Public Library, August 2004
• Associate Editor, Epoch, Cornell University, 1998-2002
• Faculty Advisor, Lackadaisical, Cornell University Undergraduate Literary and Arts Magazine, 2001-02
• Research and Editorial Assistant for Professor Alison Lurie, Cornell University, 2001-2002
• Peer Mentor, John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, Spring 2001
• Peer Collaborator, John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, Fall 2000 & Fall 2001
• Research Assistant for Professor Robert Morgan, Cornell University, Summer 2000
• Writing 700, “Teaching Writing,” Cornell University, Summer 1999
• Teaching Internship, Cornell University, Summer 1999
• Writer’s Alive Project, Reading and Lecture Series in Local High Schools, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 1997-98
AWARDS AND HONORS
• East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame Poetry Award induction, 2015, honors “the important contributions local authors make to our culture and history”
• James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South, 2015, awarded by the Fellowship of Southern Writers biannually for writing in all genres
• Weatherford Award for Poetry, 2014, for Basin Ghosts, given by the Appalachian Studies Association and the Loyal Jones Center at Berea College, for “the published work that best illuminates the problems, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South”
• The Philip H. Freund Prize for Creative Writing, 2014, awarded by Cornell University
• Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Outstanding Appalachian Literature, 2013, awarded to one writer annually by Morehead State University for writing in all genres
• Denny C. Plattner Award for Poetry, 2013, awarded by Appalachian Heritage journal for best poem published during the previous calendar year
• Appalachian Writers Association Poetry Book of the Year, 2011, for Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine
• New Faculty Award, East Tennessee State University, College of Arts & Sciences, 2011-12, awarded to a College faculty member not yet tenured for achievement in teaching, research, and service
• Weatherford Award for Poetry, 2011, for Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, given by the Appalachian Studies Association and the Loyal Jones Center at Berea College, for “the published work that best illuminates the problems, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South”
• Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching, University of Tennessee (university-wide), Spring 2008
• Emperor Dissertation Fellowship, University of Tennessee, Spring 2008
• Emperor Research Assistant on The Complete Poetry of James Agee, University of Tennessee Press, 2006-08
• Most Outstanding Literary Research Award, SASCOL, East Tennessee State University, November 2007
• Featured Poet (Including Interview and 12 Poems), Town Creek Poetry Review, Spring 2007
• John C. Hodges Chair of Excellence Research Assistantship, University of Tennessee, 2004-2006
• Hodges Award for Excellence by an Experienced Tutor, Writing Center, University of Tennessee, 2005
• 1st Place, James Agee Festival Award for Poetry (university-wide), University of Tennessee, 2005
• 2nd Place, Libba Moore Gray Poetry Prize, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 2005
• 1st Place, Hodges Graduate Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, 2004
• Nominee, Emily R. Clark Award Excellence in Teaching (university-wide), Cornell University, 2002
• 1st Place, Libba Moore Gray Poetry Prize, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 1997
• Margaret A. Woodruff Award in Creative Writing, University of Tennessee, 1996 & 1997
• Knickerbocker Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, 1997
• Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, 1997
• Eleanora A. Burke Essay Prize, University of Tennessee, 1996 & 1997
CREDENTIALS
I have requested confidential letters of recommendation that address my abilities and potential as a scholar, writer, and teacher from three faculty members, Dr. Kirsten Benson, Dr. Marilyn Kallet, and Dr. Arthur Smith in the Department of English at The University of Tennessee, and from Professor Robert Morgan at Cornell University. I have arranged that Interfolio provide copies of these letters upon request.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
EDUCATION
• THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, Knoxville, TN
PhD in Creative Writing, Poetry, August 2008
Dissertation: “Field Portrait,” directed by Arthur Smith
• CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, NY
MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry, August 2000
• THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, Knoxville, TN
BA, 1997, Major: English, Minor: Philosophy
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Creative Writing; Poetry and Poetics; Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American Literature; Personal Essay and Creative Non-fiction; Southern and Appalachian Writing, Language, and Culture; British and American Modernism; Romantic Poetry; Poetics of Song Lyrics; Writing on Ecology and Environment
PUBLICATIONS
• POETRY BOOKS; POEMS IN JOURNALS AND ANTHOLOGIES
Basin Ghosts, second full-length collection of poems, published spring 2014, Texas Review Press, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M UP Consortium
Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, full-length collection of poems, published fall 2011, Texas Review Press, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M UP Consortium
“Plaintive Lives,” North American Review, forthcoming Fall 2016
“September Songs,” Epoch, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Astronomy,” Southern Cultures, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Barn Swallows,” Appalachian Heritage, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Edith,” Appalachian Heritage, forthcoming Spring 2016
“The Field at Rest,” Appalachian Heritage, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Katie Myers,” Blackbird, forthcoming Spring 2016
“At the Piano Recital,” Appalachian Journal, forthcoming Spring 2016
“The Black Dot,” Bluestem, forthcoming Spring 2016
“A Confederate Soldier in Union County,” The Pikeville Review, Spring 2016
“Upper Chambers,” The Pikeville Review, forthcoming Spring 2016
“East Running Spring,” The Pikeville Review, forthcoming Spring 2016
“Elegy,” Valparaiso Poetry Review, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Raft,” Still: The Journal, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Siren,” Still: The Journal, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Jewel,” Still: The Journal, forthcoming Winter 2016
“Mossy Springs,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Garden District,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Rooms Feel So Quiet,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Swan Calls,” Sacred Trespasses, with podcast, forthcoming Winter 2015
“The Residual Site,” The Carolina Quarterly, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Substrata,” The Carolina Quarterly, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Cavern,” The Carolina Quarterly, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Holocene,” Louisiana Literature, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Indolence,” Louisiana Literature, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Chipping Arrowheads,” Louisiana Literature, forthcoming Winter 2015
“Most Distant Antiquity,” Journal of Florida Studies, Winter 2016
“In a Familiar City,” Southern Poetry Review, Fall 2015
“Arrhythmia,” Cape Rock Journal, Fall 2015
“Ancestors,” drafthorse, Summer 2015
“Get Right with God,” drafthorse, Summer 2015
“Field-tender’s Hymnal,” drafthorse, Summer 2015
“Vessel,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Tenor at Dawn,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Salt,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Pitch,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Creek Source,” “Spectral South” issue, South Carolina Review, Spring 2015
“Analogue,” South Carolina Review, Fall 2014
“Worksong,” South Carolina Review, Fall 2014
“Ghosts of Jackson Avenue,” Texas Review, Summer 2014
“Van Zandt Dream #4,” Texas Review, Summer 2014
“Stray,” Texas Review, Summer 2014
“Blank Verse for Tim Duncan,” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, June 8, 2014
“Anaphora for Manu Ginobili,” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, June 8, 2014
“Alexandrines for Tony Parker,” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, June 8, 2014
“Listening at Dusk,” Broad River Review, Spring 2014
“The Invitations,” Broad River Review, Spring 2014
“Rest full of light,” Motif Anthology, Vol. 4: Water, Spring 2014
“Blue,” Inscape , Spring 2014
“Cards,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“Cool Concentration,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“Secret in the Woods,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“Woodland Cathedral,” Inscape, Spring 2014
“AM Radio,” Appalachian Heritage, Spring 2014
“Fortune,” Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Winter 2013
“Veil,” Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Winter 2013
“Time’s Weave,” Appalachian Heritage, Winter 2013
“Asia,” Now & Then Magazine, Winter 2013
“Roan Mountain Recitative,” The Emancipator, Spring 2013
“Vocabulary Lesson,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Cinnamon,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Childhood,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Reading Late,” Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012
“Source,” Appalachian Heritage, Fall 2012
“The Kingdom of the Dead,” Missouri Review, Summer 2012
“Big Elm Point,” Appalachian Heritage, Winter 2011
“St. Paul,” Prairie Schooner, Fall 2011
“Johnson’s Ground,” Prairie Schooner, Fall 2011
“Deep Corner,” Aethlon, Fall 2011
“Bayou Storm,” Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IV: Louisiana, Fall 2011
“The Night Café: North Rendon, New Orleans,” Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IV: Louisiana, Fall 2011
“Faubourg Marigny,” Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IV: Louisiana, Fall 2011
“The Road into the Lake,” The Texas Review, Fall 2011
“Revivals,” The Texas Review, Fall 2011
“Sparrow,” The Texas Review, Fall 2011
“Water Washing Away,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“Wellsprings,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“Tennessee History,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“The Wilderness Trail,” Still: The Journal, Spring 2011
“Emissaries,” Shawangunk Review, Spring 2011
“Wild Strawberries at St. Mary’s Hospital,” Shawangunk Review, Spring 2011
“The Donkey on the Road,” Town Creek Poetry, Winter 2010
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2010
“Grace Notes,” Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, Shepherd University Press, 2010
“Reservation Snapshot,” Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, Shepherd University Press, 2010
“Facing West from Cumberland Gap,” Pembroke Magazine, 2010
“Digging the Pond,” Tar River Poetry, 2009
“The Pier at 5 AM,” Kestrel, 2009
“Echolalia,” Louisiana Literature, 2009
“At Seven,” Louisiana Literature, 2009
“A Short Life of Trouble,” Motif: Writing by Ear, 2009
“My Sister at Sea,” South Carolina Review, 2009
“Field Portrait,” Connecticut Review, 2009
“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008
“Firing Order,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008
“River Gods,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008
“Equations,” descant, Volume 47, 2008
“Late Summer Woodcut,” Potomac Review, (Issue 43), 2008
“Wrightsville Beach,” Pisgah Review, (2.1), 2008
“For the Frozen Wood,” Pisgah Review, (2.1), 2008
“His Confession,” Bat City Review, (Vol. 3), 2007
“The Sunken Mill,” CrossRoads: A Southern Culture Annual, Mercer UP, 2006
“Picture It,” New Millennium Writings, (16:1), 2006
“Detroit Muscle,” Now & Then, (21:2), 2006
“Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake,” New Millennium Writings, (15:1), 2006
“Blueprints,” Knoxville Bound: A Collection of Literary Works Inspired by Knoxville, Tennessee, 2005
“Red Lines,” Knoxville Bound: A Collection of Literary Works Inspired by Knoxville, Tennessee, 2005
“Trade,” Southern Poetry Review, (41:2), 2002
“The Upper Ridge,” The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, (12:2)
“The Locust Bush,” The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, (12:2)
“West of Raleigh,” Roanoke Review, (27:1)
“Taylor’s Grove,” Roanoke Review, (27:1)
“Middle-of-Night Madrigals,” Windsor Review, (32:1)
“September 18,” Windsor Review, (32:1)
“Minor Explosions,” Windsor Review, (32:1)
“Pretty Music,” Yemassee, (5:2)
“Essentials,” Cape Rock Journal, (31:2)
“White Scars,” Now & Then, (15:2)
“New Year’s Day,” All Around Us: Poems from the Valley, 1996
• POEMS REPRINTED IN ANTHOLOGIES, JOURNALS, AND NEWSPAPERS
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry, University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2016
“Firing Order,” repr. Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry, University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2016
“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine,” repr. Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry, University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2016
“Arrhythmia,” The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins, forthcoming Fall 2016
“Goldengrove,” The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins, forthcoming Fall 2016
“Digging the Pond,” repr. Anthology of Appalachian Literature, University of Kentucky Press, forthcoming 2016
“Mother’s Milk,” repr. Anthology of Appalachian Literature, University of Kentucky Press, forthcoming 2016
“Reading Late,” repr. The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, June 18, 2015
“Source,” repr. Spring 2013, Appalachian Heritage, Special 40th Anniversary Issue
“Digging the Pond,” repr. The Emancipator, Spring 2013
“Digging the Pond,” repr. Chapter 16, Summer 2012
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Motif 3: An Anthology of Writings about Work, Fall 2011
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Rapid River, December 2010
“Digging the Pond,” repr. Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Winter 2010
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Winter 2010
“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine,” repr. Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Winter 2010
“Digging the Pond,” repr. The Magnolia Quarterly, Fall 2010
“Elegy for a Hay Rake,” repr. The Magnolia Quarterly, Fall 2010
“Firing Order,” repr. The Magnolia Quarterly, Fall 2010
“Red Lines,” repr. Metro Pulse (Knoxville Bound feature), (14:48)
• EDITED COLLECTIONS
James Agee, Complete Poems, forthcoming from University of Tennessee Press, 2016. I was solicited by Series Editor and UT Professor Michael Lofaro to co-edit this edition, Volume 9 in the Collected Works of James Agee series by UT Press.
The Robert Morgan Companion, appearing from McFarland & Company Publishers in late 2016, is a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs about the poet and fiction writer Robert Morgan. It will bring together important early essays about his life and work, as well as newly solicited perspectives on his writing. I am co-editor with Robert West of Mississippi State University; I will contribute an essay on the link between family history and literature in Morgan’s work.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VII: North Carolina, a volume of poetry including more than 100 poets from the state, published by Texas Review Press, member, Texas A&M UP Consortium in early 2015. I am co-editor with William Wright and Paul Ruffin on this project.
Jeff Daniel Marion, Poet on the Holston, has been accepted and given a contract for publication by University of Tennessee Press, expected in fall of 2015. Essays will be drawn from the Jeff Daniel Marion Festival at Carson-Newman University, and from solicited new and previously published essays. I was selected by the conference organizers to lead the editorial team in this process.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee, a volume of poetry that includes more than 120 poets from the state, and was published by Texas Review Press, member, Texas A&M UP Consortium in fall 2013. I am co-editor and Foreword co-author with William Wright and Paul Ruffin on this project.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, a volume of poetry that includes 80 poets from the region, and was published by Texas Review Press, member, Texas A&M UP Consortium in December 2010. I am co-editor with William Wright and Paul Ruffin on this project, and I contributed the editor’s introduction. It fills a significant gap in the field, and is the first anthology of contemporary Appalachian poetry. Finalist for the 2010 Weatherford Award in Poetry from the Appalachian Studies Association.
Guest Editor: The Southern Quarterly, Spring 2010, 47/1. This was a special issue which I proposed for one of the oldest and most distinguished journals devoted to Southern literature. It was titled “A Community across Time: The Poetry and Prose of Robert Morgan.” I solicited and edited fourteen essays, five book reviews, new work from the featured author, and wrote an editor’s introduction to the issue. The issue provides valuable new perspectives on Appalachia’s most widely read living author.
Outscape: Writings on Fences and Frontiers (with Jessie Janeshek), The Knoxville
Writers’ Guild, 2008. A collection of writing from East Tennessee on the broad topic of fences and frontiers, with contributors ranging from first-time authors to Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Wright.
• ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS, AND REVIEWS
“Parallel Poetics: Ways of Seeing in James Agee and Federico Garcia Lorca,” Let Us Now Praise Famous Men at 75: Anniversary Essays, edited by Michael A. Lofaro, University of Tennessee Press, forthcoming 2016. This essay considers many surprising parallels in the style and vision of two major early Twentieth Century writers, with an emphasis on their two most discussed works, Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and Lorca’s Poet in New York.
“Awake in Their Wide Pastures: Formal Design the Poems of Robert Morgan and Ron Rash,” Summoning the Dead: Critical Essays on Ron Rash, forthcoming 2016, University of South Carolina Press. This article picks up certain themes of my earlier essay “Lattice Work,” and expands on them by including more recent work by poets, and examining other elements of technique in their poems.
“Waltzing through the Mysterium: The Evolving Role of Music in the Poetry of David Bottoms,” South Carolina Review, forthcoming Fall 2016. This essay examines a central theme in the work of a major contemporary Southern poet, and considers certain stylistic developments within Bottoms’ poetry, and they align with other significant American poets.
“The People and Places of Robert Morgan: An Essay and Photo Gallery,” Robert Morgan Companion, McFarland & Company Publishers, forthcoming 2016. This is a biographical essay about my mentor Robert Morgan, which includes photographs and an appendix detailing the fictional and poetic portrayals of Morgan family members and the influence of his native North Carolina on his work.
“Poetry of the Appalachian Renaissance,” Section Introduction, Anthology of Appalachian Literature, forthcoming 2016, University of Kentucky Press. This is an editorial introduction to a chapter in an important university-press anthology, on one of the most dynamic periods for poetry in the history of Appalachian literature.
“Fifty Years of Reading Cormac McCarthy: A Round-table Discussion with John Banville, Jesse Graves, Andres Hax, and Kevin Rabalais,” Sacred Trespasses, winter 2015. This is a wide-ranging discussion between writers about one of America’s great novelists.
“An Interview with Jeff Daniel Marion.” This is a new interview with the poet, recorded for inclusion in Jeff Daniel Marion: Poet on the Holston, fall 2016.
Review of Letters to the Dead: A Memoir, by Jeff Daniel Marion, Appalachian Journal, forthcoming Spring 2016.
Review of Long Man: A Novel, by Amy Greene, Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2014.
“The Wide Embrace of Jeff Daniel Marion,” Chapter 16, the online journal of the Tennessee Humanities Council, Spring 2013. This was an essay solicited by the journal to commemorate my relationship with one of my literary friends and mentors, the celebrated East Tennessee poet Jeff Daniel Marion.
“The Return of the Native Speaker: Maurice Manning’s Dramatic Voices,” Iron Mountain Review, 2013 volume. This essay concerns the work of one of America’s most celebrated younger poets. It addresses Manning’s use of various forms of monologue in his poetry, and the traditions behind them.
“An Interview with Robert Morgan,” The Georgia Review, Spring 2012. I conducted this interview in spring 2010 when Mr. Morgan visited ETSU for a reading of his poetry and fiction. It covers such topics as his new books, his upbringing and family life, and his literary influences.
“A Blind Work of Nature: The Ethics of Representing Beauty in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” in James Agee at 100: Centennial Essays, edited by Michael Lofaro, University of Tennessee Press, Spring 2012. This essay takes a new perspective on role of beauty, as an ethical dimension, in Agee’s most celebrated and discussed book.
“Still Holding at the Seams: Magnolia Electric Co.’s ‘Josephine’ and the Contemporary Poetic Sequence,” in The Poetics of American Song Lyrics, edited by Charlotte Pence, University of Mississippi Press, Spring 2012. This essay examines two of my long-standing interests in relation to one another: the nature of the lyric poem, and the artistic interrelation of music and poetry.
I am interviewed by Denton Loving for The Emancipator journal at Lincoln Memorial University, discussing my writing and relationship to the region, 2012.
Review of Still in Print: The Southern Novel Today, edited by Jan Nordby Gretlund, Appalachian Journal, Fall 2012.
Review of Lambs of Men: A Novel by Charles Dodd White, Journal of Appalachian Studies, Spring 2012.
“The Single Seam in the The Double Dream of Spring: Natural Sublime in the Poetry of John Ashbery,” South Carolina Review, Winter 2011. This journal article considers an undervalued aspect of a major contemporary poet. While Ashbery is known more as an experimentalist, my essay places him within a long-standing Romantic tradition, and discusses both his influences and his inversions of those influences.
I am the featured writer for the Fall 2010 issue of The Magnolia Quarterly, which reprinted three of my published poems, and includes commentary on my work by the journal’s poetry editor, John Freeman.
I am the featured writer in a Fall 2010 interview about my work, conducted by William Barnes, editor of The Volunteer Review, a student-run literary and arts magazine at the University of Tennessee.
Review of Mother Land: Poems by Linda Parsons Marion, Louisiana Literature, Summer 2010.
“Tennessee Said-Song: Dialect in Appalachian Poetry,” an essay in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, Shepherd University Press, 2010. This is a personal essay on my own poetic practice, but also examines how other Southern poets use dialect and localized language in their poems.
Encyclopedia Entry: “R.L. Burnside,” in The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Music Section, University of Tennessee Press, 2010. An entry on an important Mississippi Hill Country blues musician, in the updated digital edition of the book.
“Lattice Work: Formal Tendencies in the Recent Poetry of Robert Morgan and Ron Rash,” Southern Quarterly, (45:1), 2008. This essay looks at the use of poetic forms in the work of two important contemporary poets.
Review of Southern Appalachian Poetry, edited by Marita Garin; Sandra Ballard, ed. Appalachian Journal, Fall 2009.
Review of Charles Wright: A Companion to the Late Poetry, 1988-2007 by Robert D. Denham; Sandra Ballard, ed. Appalachian Journal, Spring 2009.
“Words with Ron Rash,” (interview) Grist, 2008 (Issue 1); reprinted in Serena: A Novel paperback with reader’s guide, by Ron Rash, Ecco, 2009; reprinted in Conversations with Ron Rash, University of Mississippi Press, forthcoming Fall 2016.
“An Interview with John Rice Irwin,” Outscape, 2008. My conversation with the founder of The Museum of Appalachia.
Reference Book Entries: “Guy Davenport,” “Jeff Daniel Marion,” and “Albert Murray,” The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 9, Literature. M. Thomas Inge, ed. University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, AND PRESENTATIONS
• Panel Participant, “James Agee and Southern Poetry,” St. George Tucker Society Annual Meeting, Asheville, NC, July 2016
• Workshop Leader, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, June 2016
• Workshop Leader, Tennessee Mountain Writers Annual Conference, Oak Ridge, TN, April 2016
• Invited Reading, Stephenson Lecture Series, Lees-McRae College, with Don Johnson, Banner Elk, NC, November 2015
• Award Reception, Induction into East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, Friends of Literacy, Knoxville, TN, October 2015
• Panel Participant, “Country Music and Appalachian Literature,” The Appalachian Symposium, Berea College, Berea, KY, September 2015
• Invited Reader, with Robert Gipe and Denton Loving, Union Avenue Books, Knoxville, TN, September 2015
• Featured Poet, Writers’ Day, Virginia Highlands Festival, Abingdon, VA, July 2015
• Workshop Leader, Tennessee Young Writers’ Workshop, Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN, July 2015
• Invited Reading, Mary B. Martin School of the Arts Volunteer Event, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, April 2015
• Invited Reading, Fellowship of Southern Writers Celebration for Award Winners for Poetry, Chattanooga, TN, April 2015
• Invited Speaker, Tables of Content Series, Charles C. Sherrod Library, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, April 2015
• Invited Reading and Class Visit, Pellissippi State Community College, April 2015
• Panel Chair and Participant, Poetry Reading by Jesse Graves, Don Johnson, and Jeff Daniel Marion, Appalachian Studies Association Annual Conference, East Tennessee State University, March 2015
• Invited Reading and Workshop, Cornell University, Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series, November 2014
• “Care, Revelation, and Innovation in the Margins: Karen McElmurray’s Digital Letters,” with Bethann Bowman, Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA, October 2014
• Invited Reader, Young Harris College, Georgia, October 2014
• Panel Participant, “Readings from the New Rough South,” Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, October 2014
• Invited Featured Reader, Abingdon VA Friends of the Library Series, April 2014
• “An Evening of Tennessee Poetry,” Johnson City Public Library, host and reader, April 2014
• Invited Reader, with William Wright, ETSU Prominent Poets Series, April 2014
• Workshop Leader, Appalachian Young Writers’ Workshop, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, June 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
• Invited Reading, Carson-Newman University, November 2013. I gave a public reading, and spoke at the annual banquet for C-N honors students.
• Invited Reading, Appalachian Writers Series at Lincoln Memorial University, October 2013. I gave a public reading of my poetry, and a presentation to students and local community.
• Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award Ceremony, Morehead State University, Kentucky, October 2013. A two-day event, in which I met students and community members at Morehead, then gave a public reading and received this year’s Chaffin Award.
• Panel Chair, and Reader, “Introducing the Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee,” at the Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, TN, October 2013, where I chaired or read on four panels
• “Letters to the Earth: Songs and Poems of Conservation,” Ijams Nature Center, Knoxville, TN, September, 2013, where I read with Marilyn Kallet, Jeff Daniel Marion, Linda Parsons Marion, R.B. Morris, and Arthur Smith
• Panel Chair, “James Agee in Literary Context,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2013
• Invited Speaker, Jeff Daniel Marion Literary Festival, where I read my essay, “The Wide Embrace of Jeff Daniel Marion,” Carson-Newman University, April 2013
• Panel Chair, and Reader, “New Appalachian Writing,” a reading and roundtable discussion with Karen Salyer McElmurray, Mark Powell, and Charles Dodd White, Appalachian Studies Association Conference, March 2013
• Featured Poet, Eureka College Literary Festival, Eureka, IL, March 2013, where I gave a public reading from my poetry, and lead two poetry writing workshops
• Featured Poet, Mildred Haun Festival, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN, February 2013, where I lead a poetry writing workshop and gave a public reading
• Invited Panelist, “The Influence of Jeff Daniel Marion,” Mildred Haun Festival, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN, February 2013
• Invited Speaker, "Return of the Native Speaker: Maurice Manning's Appalachian Dramatic Monologues," Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA, October 2012
• Poetry Reading, Carson- Newman University, Jefferson City, TN, October 2012. I gave the 2012 Henrietta Jenkins Annual Poetry Reading.
• Poetry Reading, Gardner-Webb University, October, 2012. I read poems at the Awards Banquet for the Southern Appalachian Culture Series.
• Workshop Leader, Cumberland Gap Young Writers’ Workshop, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, July 2012
• Presenter, “Interpreting Dialect in Appalachian Poetry,” Appalachian Studies Association Conference, March 2012
• Panel Chair and Presenter, “The Continuing Influence of the Greater Romantic Lyric,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA, November 2011
• Workshop Leader, I taught a week-long poetry writing class at the 34th Annual Appalachian Writers’ Workshop in Hindman, KY, July 31-August 5, 2011. As part of my staff appointment, I gave a public reading at the Hindman Settlement School on Wednesday, August 3, with writers Lee Smith and George Ella Lyon
• Poetry Reading, Appalachian Studies Association Conference, Eastern Kentucky University, 2011. I gave a reading of my work from the Shepherd University Anthology of Appalachian Writers.
• Host and Panel Chair, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia, Mildred Haun Festival, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN, 2011
• Presenter, South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Atlanta, GA, 2010.
• Invited Speaker, roundtable discussion on poet/novelist Ron Rash, Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs, NC, 2011
• Presenter, “Before He Won the West: Reading the Tennessee Novels of Cormac McCarthy,” Western Writers of America Conference, Knoxville, TN, June 2010
• Presenter, “Waltzing through the Mysterium: Music in the Poetry of David Bottoms,” Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, New Orleans, April 2010
• Panel Chair, “A Discussion of The Southern Quarterly Special Issue: The Poetry and Prose of Robert Morgan,” Appalachian Studies Association Conference, Dahlonega, GA, March 2010
• Presenter, “Anthologizing Appalachian Literature,” Appalachian Studies Association Conference in Dahlonega, GA, March 2010
• Guest Lecturer, “Writing Your Own Life,” Ninth Grade Honors English Classes, University High School, East Tennessee State University, February 2010
• Poetry Reading, with Ron Giles and John Morefield, East Tennessee State University, November 2009
• Poetry Reading, with Robert Morgan and Fred Chappell, “Student, Teacher, Writer,” North Carolina Literary Festival, UNC-Chapel Hill, September 2009
• Panel Chair, “James Agee at 100,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2009
• Presenter, “Teaching Historical Research in English 102,” First Year Composition Curriculum Panel, University of Tennessee, December 2008
• Presenter, “James Still and the Continuing Influence of His Poetry,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Louisville, KY, November 2008
• Guest Lecturer, “Free Verse and the American Idiom,” English 363 Advanced Poetry Writing (Professor Marilyn Kallet) University of Tennessee, October 2008
• Guest Lecturer, “Workshop Leader Graduate Student Poetry,” English 585 (Professor Marilyn Kallet) University of Tennessee, October 2008· Panel Chair, “A Community across Time: The Poetry and Prose of Robert Morgan,” American Literature Association, San Francisco, CA, May 2008
• Respondent, “New Directions in Agee Studies,” American Literature Association Conference, San Francisco, CA, May 2008
• Invited Lecturer, “Landscape and Geography in Appalachian Poetry,” Geography Department, Radford University, March 2008
• Invited Reader, Creative Writing Poetry Panel, Southern Humanities Council Conference, Knoxville, TN, February 2008
• Guest Lecturer, Dreamworks Poetry, English 485 (Professor Marilyn Kallet) University of Tennessee, February 2008
• Invited Reader and Presenter, “The Future of Writing in the South,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Atlanta, GA, November, 2007
• Presenter, “Lattice Work: Formal Tendencies in the Recent Poetry of Robert Morgan and Ron Rash,” Southern Appalachian Student Conference On Literature, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, October 2007
• Presenter, “Uncovering John Carter: Editorial Treatment of James Agee’s Forgotten Long Poem,” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA , May 2007
• Keynote Speaker, Academic Achievers’ Banquet, Union County High School, Maynardville, TN, May 2007
• Presenter, “The Single Seam in The Double Dream of Spring: John Ashbery’s Natural Sublime,” Twentieth Century Louisville Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2007
• Invited Reader, Creative Writing Poetry Panel, Twentieth Century Louisville Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2007
• Guest Lecturer, “Poetry Is for Everyone,” Garden Montessori School, Knoxville, TN, December 2005
• Featured Reader, Knoxville Writers’ Guild Awards Gala, May 2005
• Guest Lecturer, “The Poetry of Adrienne Rich,” English 251, Introduction to Poetry (Professor Richard Finneran), University of Tennessee, November 2004 and April 2005.
• Featured Reader, Rothrock Café, Knoxville Public Library, April 2005
• Presenter, “Thomas Hardy’s Distraught Love Lyrics,” Twentieth Century Louisville Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2005
• Featured Reader, Writers in the Library, University of Tennessee, February 2006 and November 2004
• Session Leader, “Guiding Student Revisions,” Department of English Orientation for New Graduate Teaching Associates, University of Tennessee, August 2004
• Guest Lecturer, “Designing Meaningful Assignments,” Teaching in the University: Faculty Seminars, University of New Orleans, April 2003
• Presenter, “Teaching Developmental Writing,” Faculty Curriculum Panel, University of New Orleans Writing Center, February 2003
• Guest Lecturer, “The Art of the Student Conference,” Writing 700, John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, July 2002
• Presenter/Reader, “Cornell Poets,” Writing by Degrees: A Conference on Creative Writing, SUNY-Binghamton, April 2002
• Guest Lecturer, “Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady,” English 366: Nineteenth Century American Novel (Professor Dan McCall), November 2001
• Guest Lecturer, “On Melville’s ‘Bartleby,’” English 477: Emerson and Poe (Professor Robert Morgan), Cornell University, April 2001
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
• ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Department of Literature and Language, East Tennessee State University, August 2014- present
Teach ENGL 3141 Poetry Writing, ENGL 4022 American Poetry, ENGL 3010 Introduction to Poetry, ENGL 2220 American Literature since the Civil War, ENGL 2120 British Literature since the Romantic Period, ENGL 4957/5957 Special Topics in Southern and Appalachian Poetry, ENGL 3128 Honors Special Topics in “Writing and Region,” ENGL 1028 Honors Composition, ENGL 1020 First-Year Composition, UHON 1318 Artistic Vision II.
• ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Department of Literature and Language, East Tennessee State University, August 2009-2014
• POST-DOCTORAL LECTURER
English Department, The University of Tennessee, August 2008-August 2009
Teach Poetry Writing, Literature, and First-Year Composition courses, including “Introduction to Poetry Writing,” “Introduction to Poetry” (200 level literature course), “American Literature, 1865-Present,” and “Inquiry into Roots Music and Culture.”
• GRADUATE TEACHING ASSOCIATE
English Department, The University of Tennessee, 2003-2008
Taught and devised literature and composition courses including Introductory Level Creative Writing and First-Year Composition.
• FULL-TIME INSTRUCTOR
English Department, The University of New Orleans, 2002-2003
Taught literature and composition courses including “Introduction to Poetry and Drama,” “Introduction to Fiction,” “Developmental Writing,” and “Advanced Composition.”
• LECTURER AND GRADUATE TEACHING ASSOCIATE
English Department, Cornell University, 1999-2002
Taught and devised courses in the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines Teaching Writing Seminar, Creative Writing, Twentieth Century American Novel, Writing about Literature, Nineteenth Century American Novel, Cultural Studies, Personal Essay
ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
• Faculty Literary Editor, The Mockingbird, East Tennessee State University student literary magazine, 2010-present
• Faculty Advisor, Literati, East Tennessee State University student literary organization, 2009-present
• Department of Literature and Language, Graduate Committee, East Tennessee State University, 2013-present
• Sherrod Library Faculty Advisory Council, East Tennessee State University, 2013-present
• Selection Committee, Fine & Performing Arts Scholars, ETSU Honors College, 2011-present
• Contest Judge, Denny C. Plattner Award in Poetry, Appalachian Heritage, 2015
• Department of Literature and Language, Coordinator, Honors-in-Discipline, English, East Tennessee State University, Spring 2011-Spring 2014
• Department of Literature, Undergraduate Committee, East Tennessee State University, 2009-13
• College of Arts & Sciences, Basler Chair Selection Committee, East Tennessee State University, 2011-13
• Department of Literature and Language, Faculty Council, East Tennessee State University, 2009-11
• Master of Ceremonies for the Johnson City Public Library’s annual poetry reading and awards ceremony, June 2010. I renewed this role for National Poetry Month in April 2011 and 2012.
• George Scarbrough Poetry Contest Judge, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, Lincoln Memorial University, June 2012
• Poetry Contest Judge, Still : The Journal 2012
• Literary Awards Judge, MABUS/MAGUS, the literary arts journal of the Milton Academy in Milton, MA. This is a continuing role as judge for the literary journal, 2013-present
• Poetry Prize Judge, Echoes and Images Magazine, Northeast State Community College, 2011-12 issue
• Poetry Contest Judge, The Watauga Chapter of the National League of American Penwomen, October 2011
• Contest Judge, Tennessee Poetry Society, NE Chapter, Adult Category, March 2011
• Contest Judge, SASCOL, “Most Outstanding Research” Award, East Tennessee State University, September 2009
• Coordinator, Stokely Conference for Teaching Writing, “Teaching Appalachian Literature,” University of Tennessee, July 2009
• Contest Judge, Hodges Graduate Student Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, April 2009
• Associate Director, Writing Center, University of Tennessee, August 2008-August 2009
• Co-Coordinator, Stokely Conference for Teaching Writing, “Teaching the First-Person Narrative,” University of Tennessee, July 2007
• Acting Director of Composition, University of Tennessee Department of English, Summer 2006 and Summer 2007
• Assistant Director of Composition, University of Tennessee Department of English, Fall 2006 and Spring 2007
• Composition Committee Member, University of Tennessee Department of English, 2006-07
• Chair, Awards Selection Committee, Outstanding New Graduate Student Teacher Award, University of Tennessee, Spring 2007
• Chair, English 102 Textbook Selection Committee, University of Tennessee, Spring 2007
• Workshop Leader, Young Writers’ Institute, Mentorship Program for Area High School Students and Teachers, 1996-97, 2004-08.
• Chair, Best Practices Committee, University of Tennessee Graduate English Program (student), 2004-05
• Workshop Leader, Stokely Conference for Teaching Writing, University of Tennessee, July 2005
• Contest Judge, Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize (undergraduate), University of Tennessee, Spring 2005
• Writing Center Tutor, University of Tennessee, Spring 2005
• Workshop Leader, Arts in the Library, Special Section on Poetry, Knoxville Public Library, August 2004
• Associate Editor, Epoch, Cornell University, 1998-2002
• Faculty Advisor, Lackadaisical, Cornell University Undergraduate Literary and Arts Magazine, 2001-02
• Research and Editorial Assistant for Professor Alison Lurie, Cornell University, 2001-2002
• Peer Mentor, John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, Spring 2001
• Peer Collaborator, John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, Fall 2000 & Fall 2001
• Research Assistant for Professor Robert Morgan, Cornell University, Summer 2000
• Writing 700, “Teaching Writing,” Cornell University, Summer 1999
• Teaching Internship, Cornell University, Summer 1999
• Writer’s Alive Project, Reading and Lecture Series in Local High Schools, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 1997-98
AWARDS AND HONORS
• East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame Poetry Award induction, 2015, honors “the important contributions local authors make to our culture and history”
• James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South, 2015, awarded by the Fellowship of Southern Writers biannually for writing in all genres
• Weatherford Award for Poetry, 2014, for Basin Ghosts, given by the Appalachian Studies Association and the Loyal Jones Center at Berea College, for “the published work that best illuminates the problems, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South”
• The Philip H. Freund Prize for Creative Writing, 2014, awarded by Cornell University
• Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Outstanding Appalachian Literature, 2013, awarded to one writer annually by Morehead State University for writing in all genres
• Denny C. Plattner Award for Poetry, 2013, awarded by Appalachian Heritage journal for best poem published during the previous calendar year
• Appalachian Writers Association Poetry Book of the Year, 2011, for Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine
• New Faculty Award, East Tennessee State University, College of Arts & Sciences, 2011-12, awarded to a College faculty member not yet tenured for achievement in teaching, research, and service
• Weatherford Award for Poetry, 2011, for Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, given by the Appalachian Studies Association and the Loyal Jones Center at Berea College, for “the published work that best illuminates the problems, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South”
• Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching, University of Tennessee (university-wide), Spring 2008
• Emperor Dissertation Fellowship, University of Tennessee, Spring 2008
• Emperor Research Assistant on The Complete Poetry of James Agee, University of Tennessee Press, 2006-08
• Most Outstanding Literary Research Award, SASCOL, East Tennessee State University, November 2007
• Featured Poet (Including Interview and 12 Poems), Town Creek Poetry Review, Spring 2007
• John C. Hodges Chair of Excellence Research Assistantship, University of Tennessee, 2004-2006
• Hodges Award for Excellence by an Experienced Tutor, Writing Center, University of Tennessee, 2005
• 1st Place, James Agee Festival Award for Poetry (university-wide), University of Tennessee, 2005
• 2nd Place, Libba Moore Gray Poetry Prize, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 2005
• 1st Place, Hodges Graduate Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, 2004
• Nominee, Emily R. Clark Award Excellence in Teaching (university-wide), Cornell University, 2002
• 1st Place, Libba Moore Gray Poetry Prize, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 1997
• Margaret A. Woodruff Award in Creative Writing, University of Tennessee, 1996 & 1997
• Knickerbocker Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, 1997
• Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize, University of Tennessee, 1997
• Eleanora A. Burke Essay Prize, University of Tennessee, 1996 & 1997
CREDENTIALS
I have requested confidential letters of recommendation that address my abilities and potential as a scholar, writer, and teacher from three faculty members, Dr. Kirsten Benson, Dr. Marilyn Kallet, and Dr. Arthur Smith in the Department of English at The University of Tennessee, and from Professor Robert Morgan at Cornell University. I have arranged that Interfolio provide copies of these letters upon request.
© Jesse Graves 2015
