James L. White

James L. White (March 26, 1936 - July, 1981) was an American poet, editor and teacher.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, White attended Indiana University and Colorado State University where he attained an MA in Literary Criticism.

White taught as a poet in the schools on the Navaho Indian Reservation and in Minnesota public schools. He also taught with Allen Ginsberg at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

While teaching, White edited the poetry collections "Time of the Indian" (1976), which featured the poetry of Indian schoolchildren, and "First Skin Around Me" (1976), which featured the work of contemporary Indian writers including Joy Harjo and Duane Niatum.

His own books of poetry include the much lauded book "The Salt Ecstasies", published in 1982 after his death by Graywolf Press.

White died of heart disease in 1982 at the age of 45.

Legacy

Influence

White had a tremendous influence on many writers as a mentor and friend. In her book "Wild Mind", the author Natalie Goldberg credits White with giving her "permission" to be a poet.citation |title=Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life |first=Natalie |last=Goldberg |authorlink=Natalie Goldberg |year=1990 |publisher=Bantam Books |page=122] Others were influenced by the groundbreaking content of White's poetry. Mark Doty credits White as an early influence on his work and has written poetry in his honor.citation |title=Turtle, Swan and Bethlehem in Broad Daylight: Two Volumes of Poetry |first=Mark |last=Doty |authorlink=Mark Doty |year=1999 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=140] The poet Carl Phillips has written that White's "The Salt Ecstasies" was the first book he read that "spoke with disarming honesty about gay desire, desire generally, sex specifically." He credits White's book as a "crucial voice" he encountered as he began as a poet.citation |title=Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Art and Life of Poetry |first=Carl |last=Phillips |authorlink=Carl Phillips |year=2004 |publisher=Graywolf Press |page=185]

James White Review

Soon after White's death a literary quarterly of Gay men's writing was inaugurated under the name James White Review. It was first published in Minneapolis in 1983 and continued until 2002 when the Lambda Literary Foundation, its second publisher, stopped publication. The White Crane Institute is the current holder of the archives of the review and is considering options for future issues of the review.

James White Poetry Prize

In the Spring of 2008, the White Crane Institute and Phil Willkie announced the establishment of a biennial Gay men's poetry prize in honor of White, who was openly gay.citation |title=Outside the Lines |first=Christopher Matthew |last=Hennessy |page=79 |isbn=047209873X ] The White Crane/James White Poetry Prize is a manuscript prize honoring "excellence in Gay Male Poetry." The judge for the inaugural year of the prize is the poet Mark Doty.

Poetry

*"Salt Ecstasies", 1982
*"Del Rio Hotel", 1975
*"Crow's Story of Deer", 1974
*"Divorce Proceedings", 1972

References

*http://www.onearchives.org/uploads/collections/8d622c3333057e00a85a80bf6dc961a5.pdf accessed May 28, 2008
*http://www.gaywisdom.org/projects/jwpp_whitebio.html

External links

* [http://www.jameswhitepoetryprize.org James White Poetry Prize site]