James briefly attended the School of Visual Arts
in New York City and Brooklyn College.
He finished his undergraduate schooling
at the Institute of American Indian
Arts in Santa Fe with an AFA in creative writing.
And he also studied with Anne Waldman, Allen Ginsberg,
Gary Snyder, and Anselm Hollo at the Naropa Institute Summer
Writing Program.
Upon graduating in 1990, James was given a full fellowship
to attend the Brown University Graduate Writing
Program and this was really the only time--
only the second time in Brown's history
that they allowed an AFA directly into an MFA program.
And he received his MFA in 1993.
[CLEARS THROAT]
And, you know, he's published in many journals,
including the Blue Mesa Review, Mandorla, First Intensity,
Tan Tien out of China, The Alembic, Exit Zero,
Arts Advocate Magazine of New Mexico,
and his entire manuscript of Tokinish
was chosen for the Teepee Town, what's it called?
Visit Teepee Town: Native American
Writing After the Detours, which was
published by CoffeeHouse Press.
So anyways, [LAUGHS] I don't know, I just can't tell you--
I just can't tell you how amazing this is.
As a Native poet, as a Navajo poet,
James's work has been-- he's been doing translations
and he's really presented a body of work that is very new
and it's posing towards new directions.
And as somebody who recognizes his work
and wants his work to sort of follow in a similar path,
it just gives me great, great, great honor
to introduce James Thomas Stevens.