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Kwame Dawes is an actor, critic,
editor, musician, playwright, and poet. Born in Ghana,
he spent most of his childhood in Jamaica. It is that culture that influences
much of his work. He is the author of more than one dozen poetry collections,
including three 2006 titles: Brimming,
Impossible Flying, and Wisteria.
Dawes was the editor of Hub
City's Twenty (2005), a creative collection
featuring South Carolina Poetry Fellows.
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In addition to poetry, Dawes has
published a play, One Love, and
several non-fiction works, including Bob
Marley: Lyrical Genius (2002), which remains the most respected, trusted
study of the famed musician's lyrics today. His fiction includes A Place to Hide and Other Stories, Bivouac, and the forthcoming novel, She's Gone. Dawes is the recipient of
The Forward Poetry Prize, the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, and the Poetry
Business Award. In 2001, he was awarded a Pushcart Prize for best
American poetry.
Dawes
is a graduate of Jamaica College, the University of the West Indies at Mona,
and the University
of New Brunswick (Ph.D.).
He is the programmer for the annual Calabash International Literary Festival,
held in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, where he also serves as
the Director of the Calabash Writers Workshop. He is the Distinguished
Poet-in-Residence at the University
of South Carolina, where
he formerly served as Director of the MFA in Creative Writing program. Dawes is
also the founder and director of the USC Poetry Initiative, and in 2005, he was
appointed Executive Director of the University
of South Carolina Arts
Institute.
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