Jim Daniels

Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing

Area of Study

Emeritus

Bio

I have been teaching in the English Department at Carnegie Mellon since 1981. Poetry, fiction, and screenwriting are my primary research and teaching interests. Recent books include The Middle Ages (2018), Street Calligraphy and Rowing Inland (both 2017) poetry; The Perp Walk (2019) and Eight Mile High (2014), short fiction. I have written four produced screenplays, including, most recently, The End of Blessings. In addition, I have collaborated with the photographer Charlee Brodsky on numerous gallery shows and publication projects, including our book, Street, which won the Tillie Olsen Prize. In addition, I have edited or co-edited six anthologies, including Challenges to the Dream: The Best of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Writing Awards, a competition for Pittsburgh-area high school and college students that I founded in 1999. My poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac, in Billy Collins' Poetry 180 anthologies, and Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry series, and I have read my poems on "Prairie Home Companion" and "All Things Considered." My poem "Factory Love" is displayed on the roof of a race car, and in 2020, I will be sending poetry to the moon as part of the MoonArk Project. I have received the Brittingham Prize for Poetry, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. My poems have appeared in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. At Carnegie Mellon, I have received the Ryan Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Mark Gelfand Service Award for Educational Outreach, the Elliott Dunlap Smith Award for Teaching and Educational Service, and a Faculty Service Award from the Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association.

Education

• MFA, Bowling Green State University
• BA, Alma College

Selected Publications

Eight Mile High, East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2014.

Birth Marks, Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2013.

All of the Above, Easthampton, MA: Adastra Press, 2011.

Trigger Man, East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2011.

Having a Little Talk with Capital P Poetry, Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2011.

From Milltown to Malltown, Detroit, MI: Marick Press, 2010.

Mr. Pleasant, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2007.

In Line for the Exterminator, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007.