Kwame Dawes

Professor
Louise Fry Scudder Professor

Office: 111 Humanities Office Building
(803) 777-2096
dawesk@mailbox.sc.edu

Education

Ph.D., University of New Brunswick, 1992

Specialization Areas

• Creative Writing
• Twentieth-Century British
• Post-Colonial
• African American, Caribbean, and African

Recent Courses

See Course Descriptions for detailed information.

• ENGL 285 Themes in American Writing
• ENGL 735 Post-Colonial Literature and Theory
  

Brief Biography

Born in Ghana in 1962, Kwame Dawes spent most of his childhood in Jamaica. As a poet, he is profoundly influenced by the rhythms and textures of that lush place, citing in a recent interview his "spiritual, intellectual, and emotional engagement with reggae music." His book Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius remains the most authoritative study of the lyrics of Bob Marley. Kwame Dawes is the author of twelve collections of poetry.  His most recent collections are, Impossible Flying (Peepal Tree, 2006) and Wisteria (Red Hen, 2006).  In 2007, Akashic Books will publish his novel She’s Gone.  His awards include The Forward Poetry Prize, the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and the Poetry Business Award.  His non-fiction writing includes the book A Far Cry from Plymouth Rock: A Personal Narrative (Peepal Tree, 2006).  Kwame Dawes, former director of the MFA program at the University of South Carolina, is founder and director of the USC Poetry Initiative.  In 2005 he was appointed the Executive Director of the University of South Carolina Arts Institute.  Dawes is the programmer for the Calabash International Literary Festival held in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, each year, and is the Director of the Calabash Writer’s Workshop.  For is a former faculty member of Cave Canem and the Louise Frye Liberal Arts Professor in the College of Liberal Arts.  He is Distinguished Poet in Residence at USC.  brimming is his third collection of poems based on the work of artists.  Bruised Totems (2005) was written in response to the Bareis collection of African Art, and Requiem (1996) was based on Tom Feelings’ harrowing paintings in The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo.

Selected Books

Poetry

• I SAW YOUR FACE, Dial Books, 2004
• NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, Peepal Tree Books, 2003
• MIDLAND, Ohio University Press (USA), Goose Lane Editions (Canada), Winner, Hollis Summers Poetry Prize 2000, Judge: Eavan Boland.MAPMAKER, Smith/Doorstop, 2000 (UK), Winner, Poetry Business Prize 2000
• SHOOK FOIL, Peepal Tree Books, 1998 (UK)
• JACKO JACOBUS, Peepal Tree Books, 1996 (UK)
• REQUIEM, Peepal Tree Books, 1996 (UK)
• PROPHETS, Peepal Tree Books, 1995 (UK)
• RESISTING THE ANOMIE, Goose Lane Editions, 1995(Canada)
• PROGENY OF AIR, Peepal Tree Books, 1994 (UK), Winner, Forward Poetry Prize—Best First Collection

Anthologies and Edited Books

RED: AN ANTHOLOGY OF BLACK BRITISH POETRY
Peepal Tree Books, 2007 (forthcoming)

FUGUE AND OTHER POEMS BY NEVILE DAWES
Peepal Tree Books 2007(forthcoming)

TWENTY: SOUTH CAROLINA POETRY FELLOWS
Hub City Writers Project, 2005

WHEEL AND COME AGAIN: AN ANTHOLOGY OF REGGAE POEMS
Peepal Tree Books & Goose Lane Editions, 1998

Plays

ONE LOVE
Methuen Books, 2001(UK)

Non-fiction

A FAR CRY FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK: A PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Peepal Tree Books, (May, 2006)

BOB MARLEY: LYRICAL GENIUS
Sanctuary Publishing,(November 2002) (UK)

NATURAL MYSTICISM: TOWARDS A NEW REGGAE AESTHETIC
Peepal Tree Books, 1999 (UK)

TALK YUH TALK: INTERVIEWS WITH ENGLISH SPEAKING CARIBBEAN POETS
University Press of Virginia, 2000 (USA)

Fiction

SHE’S GONE
Akashic Books, 2007 (forthcoming)

BIVOUAC
Peepal Tree Books, (September, 2007)

A PLACE TO HIDE AND OTHER STORIES
Peepal Tree Books,(October 2002) (UK)