Jon Davis (poet)
Jon Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 (age 73–74) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Montana |
| Genre | Poetry |
Jon Davis (born 1952) is an American poet.
Biography
Davis was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and received a B.A. in English and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Montana, where he was editor of the literary journal CutBank. He has served as writing program coordinator for the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, edited the literary journals Shankpainter and Countermeasures: A Magazine of Poetry & Ideas, and taught at the University of Montana, College of Santa Fe (now Santa Fe University of Art and Design), and Salisbury State University. From 1990, he was a professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico[1] and founding director of the low-residency Creative Writing MFA there[2] until his retirement in 2018.[3]
Jon Davis is the author of six chapbooks and at least seven full-length collections of poetry.[3] The awards Davis has received include the Lannan Literary Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets.[4]
He wrote the screenplay for the short film The Burden Carriers, which was screened at ImagineNative Film Festival in Toronto and at the Santa Fe Film Festival, and for The Hand Drum, a National Geographic All Roads Festival selection.[5]
Works
- Above the Bejeweled City (Grid Books, 2021) ISBN 9781946830135[3]
- An Amiable Reception for the Acrobat (Grid Books, 2019) ISBN 9781946830050[6]
- Improbable Creatures (Grid Books, 2017) ISBN 9781946830005[7]
- Preliminary Report (Copper Canyon Press, 2010)
- Local Color (Palanquin Press, 1995),
- Scrimmage of Appetite (Akron University Press, 1995),
- The Hawk. The Road. The Sunlight After Clouds (Owl Creek Press, 1995)
- Dangerous Amusements (Ontario Review Press, 1987)
Critical assessment
Jon Davis received effusive praise from David Foster Wallace in an otherwise scathing criticism of prose poetry. Wallace wrote of Davis as "a poet whom this reviewer'd never heard of before but whose pieces in this anthology are so off-the-charts terrific that the reviewer has actually gone out and bought the one Jon Davis book mentioned in his bio-note and may very well decide to try to advertise it in this magazine, at reviewer's own expense if necessary—that's how good this guy is."[8]
References
- ^ "Institute of American Indian Arts College / Academics". Institute of American Indian Arts College. Archived from the original on 2006-09-07. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
Since 1990, he has taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
- ^ Asenap, Jason (2014-04-28). "Literary Heavy Hitters: IAIA MFA Program Taps Indian Country's Best". Indian Country Today Media Network.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-30. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
Jon Davis is the director of the newly-created Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing at the and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Davis has won a Lannan Literary Award in Poetry for his collection Scrimmage of Appetite, and a G.E. Younger Writers Award and the Lavan Prize for Dangerous Amusements. An IAIA instructor since 1990, Davis has also received two NEA Fellowships and is currently Santa Fe's Poet Laureate.
- ^ a b c Cramer, George (2021-09-02). "JON DAVIS - Educator - Mentor - Poet Laureate". Author George Cramer. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
I taught for 30 years, 28 of them at the Institute of American Indian Arts. In 2013, I founded the IAIA low residency MFA in Creative Writing, which I directed until my retirement in 2018. From 2012-2014, I served as the City of Santa Fe's fourth Poet Laureate.
- ^ "Jon Davis". Copper Canyon Press. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
- ^ Jon Davis at Poet & Writers.
- ^ "An Amiable Reception for the Acrobat". World of Books. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
- ^ "Improbable Creatures - Hayunga, Grant; Davis, Jon: 9781946830005 - AbeBooks". Abe Books. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
- ^ Wallace, David Foster. "Both Flesh and Not." Little, Brown and Company (2012), ISBN 9780316182379.