Ghanaian poet gets big American gig
When you first talk to Kwame Dawes, it's clear early on that he's been called the "busiest man in literature" for a reason. The Ghana-born, Jamaican poet is the chancellor's professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, editor of the Prairie Schooner, artistic director for the Calabash International Literary Festival, as well as a teacher in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at Pacific University in Oregon.
Dawes has written more than 20 poetry books and many other books of fiction, essays and criticisms. Oh, and don't forget the plays — he had a successful theater career before turning to poetry and teaching.
His interests include post-colonial literature and theory, Caribbean literature, African American and African literature, reggae aesthetic and playwriting, among many others. Those interests are as much a part of his personal life as they are his professional life.
"I don't know if I have 'hobbies,'" he said, although he consumes television from streaming services, listens to audio books "at an alarming rate" and listens often to the radio. "I suppose I will call these 'hobbies' because I do all of this for pleasure. Then again, I have sought to arrange most of my life to make my work pleasurable."
While some need to be in a certain mindset to write, or get the creative juices flowing with a cup of coffee, tea or a favorite song, Dawes said he doesn't have much of a writing routine. For him, writing is just his nature.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Kwame Dawes is taking over as editor of the "American Life in Poetry" column.
The weekly column was initiated by Kooser and is supported by the Poetry Foundation and the Library of Congress. It runs in the Lincoln Journal Star and several other newspapers. Kooser, who was U.S. poet laureate between 2004-2006, has said previously that the connection between poetry and newspapers was near and dear to him.
The African Poetry Book Fund, of which Dawes is the founding director, acts as a switchboard of sorts, connecting the development and publishing of works with workshops, contests, conferences and more. In 2020, the fund awarded the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets to Cheswayo Mphanza. Dawes has worked with young poets such as Safia Elhillo and Danez Smith, two pioneers in American and diasporic poetry. According to Dawes, they are not the only ones creating avenues for other poets.