FREDONIA, N.Y. — December 10, 2008 — James Thomas Stevens, associate professor of English and director of American Indian Studies at SUNY Fredonia, will appear as a featured poet at City Lore, a center for urban culture in New York City, on Friday, Dec. 12.
This is his second significant presentation in New York City this fall. In October he presented at the St. Mark’s Poetry Project, a forum for public literacy events and a resource and showcase for writers for over 40 years. At this event, he read some selections from his book of poetry, “A Bridge Dead in the Water,” as well as from his forthcoming collaborative book of poetry, “Of Kingdoms and Kangaroo,” written with Nicolas A. Destino.
Mr. Stevens is a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk tribe and received an AFA in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts and a MFA from Brown University. He is the author of five books of poetry: “Tokinish,” “Combing the Snakes From His Hair,” “dis(Orient),” and “Mohawk / Samoa Transmigrations,” in addition to “A Bridge Dead in the Water,” as well as two manuscripts, “Tokinish” and “Notes on the Music.”
A past nominee for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, Mr. Stevens has received the Kim Ann Arstark Memorial Prize in Poetry, the City of Santa Fe Writer’s Award and the Creative Writing Award at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He was also the recipient of a Witter-Bynner Foundation Poetry Grant.
His writings have been published in many journals, including: Mesa Review, Mandorla, First Intensity, Exit Zero and Arts Advocate Magazine in New Mexico.
