James Davis Ph.D.

James Davis is the author of the poetry collection Club Q, which Edward Hirsch selected for the Anthony Hecht Prize. His poetry has been featured on NBC News and CBC Radio and anthologized in Best New Poets 2011 (selected by D. A. Powell) & 2019 (selected by Cate Marvin). Recent poems have appeared in The Sewanee Review, Five Points, Literary Matters, The Hopkins Review, and elsewhere. His second manuscript, Bottoming for Dummies, has twice been a finalist for the Donald Justice Prize. 

 

Davis's creative nonfiction has received support from the Sewanee Writers Conference and the Association of Writing Programs, which awarded him an honorable mention in the AWP Intro Journals Project. His essays have been published in DIAGRAM and Cartridge Lit and honored with the Scott Simpkins Memorial Prize. His scholarly writing on A Midsummer Night's Dream has been awarded the UNT Faculty Senate Prize and the Pearla Irene Marquez Memorial Scholarship in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 

 

In addition to an MFA in creative writing from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in creative writing from the UNT, Davis holds a BA in French from the University of Houston. He enjoys translating poetry and drama from the French, especially the work of Raymond Queneau. When he is not reading, writing, or translating, Davis plays Scrabble in clubs and tournaments across the country. The most he has ever won at a single competition is nine hundred dollars. You can find him in Denton playing Dance Dance Revolution at Free Play or bouldering at Movement.