James Brock is an American poet and playwright, born in Boise, Idaho.  He is best known for his eclectic poetry, ranging from New York School inspired experiments to formal verse and narrative poems.  His plays veer more toward the poetic rather than the narrative, toward impressionistic flashes rather than climatic three-act plots, toward prayer rather than script. He received his B.A. from The College of Idaho and his M.F.A. and Ph. D. from Indiana University, and he currently is a full Professor of English at Florida Gulf Coast University. In 2008, Brock began to delve in performance, acting, and playwriting, and since 2011, he has retired from actively publishing poetry.  In 2012, he assisted Brittney Brady in the founding of Ghostbird Theatre Company, which is the resident theater company of the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers, Florida.  For Ghostbird, Brock wrote and performed in his first play, "The Pumpkin Grower" in October 2012.  For this play, Brock won a 2013 Individual Artist Fellowship from the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. His earlier life saw him in various odd jobs such as grocery produce clerk, roofer at a trailer factory, a bear field researcher, and a librarian.  Honors  National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship  American Academy of Poets Prize  Alex Haley Foundation Fellowship  Tennessee Arts Commission Fellowship  Idaho Commission for the Arts Fellowship City of Fort Myers Arts and Culture Grant State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship  Plays  The Chicken Play, co-written with Hanny Zuniga  The Guardsman, a new translation of Ferenc Molnàr's play  Because Beauty Must Be Broken Daily  The Pumpkin Grower  Books  Gods & Money  Pictures That Got Small  Nearly Florida  The Sunshine Mine Disaster  Anthologies  Idaho +: Contemporary Poetry from the American West  Idaho's Poetry: A Centennial Anthology  Snakebird: Thirty Years of Anhinga Poetry  Saints of Hysteria
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