Kwame Dawes

Kwame Senu Neville Dawes (born 28 July 1962 Ghana) is a Jamaican poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and Louis Frye Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He currently works as editor-in-chief at the Prairie Schooner.

Life
He grew up in Jamaica where he attended Jamaica College and the University of the West Indies at Mona. He studied and taught in New Brunswick, Canada on a Commonwealth Scholarship. As a PhD student at the University of New Brunswick, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Brunswickan.

Since 1992 he has been teaching at the University of South Carolina. He is a Professor in English and also Distinguished Poet in Residence, Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative and Director of the USC Arts Institute. He is also the faculty advisor for the publication Yemassee. He won the 1994 Forward Poetry Prize, Best First Collection for Progeny of Air.

Dawes collaborated with San Francisco-based writer and composer Kevin Simmonds on Wisteria: Twilight Songs from the Swamp Country which debuted at Royal Festival Hall in 2006, and featured sopranos Valetta Brinson and Valerie Johnson.

Recognition
In 2009, Dawes won an Emmy Award in the category of New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture. His project documented HIV/AIDS in Jamaica, interspersed with poetry, photographs, and other media. The website "Livehopelove.com" is the culmination of his project. He is director of the Calabash International Literary Festival, Jamaica.

Poetry

 *  Progeny of Air, Peepal Tree Press, 1994, ISBN 9780948833687
 *  Prophets, Peepal Tree Press, 1995, ISBN 9780948833854
 *  Jacko Jacobus, Peepal Tree Press, 1996, ISBN 9781900715065
 *  Requiem, Peepal Tree Press, 1996, ISBN 9781900715072
 *  Shook Foil, Peepal Tree Press, 1997, ISBN 9781900715140
 *  Map-Maker Smith/Doorstop Books, 2000, ISBN 9781902382180
 *  His New and Selected Poems, 1994-2002, Peepal Tree Press, 2003, ISBN 9781900715706
 * Back of Mount Peace, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2009, ISBN 9781845231248
 * Wheels, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2010, ISBN 9781845231422
 * Back of Mount Peace, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2009, ISBN 9781845231248
 * Wheels, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2010, ISBN 9781845231422

Novels

 * Bivouac, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2010, ISBN 9781845231057
 * Bivouac, Peepal Tree Press Ltd., 2010, ISBN 9781845231057

Short stories

 *  A Place to Hide and Other Stories, Peepal Tree, 2003, ISBN 9781900715485

Non-fiction

 *  Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius, Sanctuary, 2002, ISBN 9781860744334