Joe Milford Show  

BJ Ward’s most recent book of poetry, Gravedigger’s Birthday, was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. His two earlier volumes are 17 Love Poems with No Despair and Landing in New Jersey with Soft Hands. All three volumes are published by North Atlantic Books (Berkeley, CA) and distributed internationally by Random House. As an Author: BJ Ward’s poetry has been featured on National Public Radio’s “The Writer’s Almanac,” New Jersey Network’s “State of the Arts,” and the web site Poetry Daily, as well as in national publications such as Poetry, TriQuarterly, The Literary Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Puerto Del Sol, Mid-American Review, Controlled Burn, The Sun, and dozens of other journals. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Worcester Review, and Teaching Artist Journal, as well as on the American Library Association’s main library advocacy web site (www.ilovelibraries.org) during National Library Week (April 13-19, 2008). Anthologies featuring his work that appeared recently include In A Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press), The Poets of New Jersey (Jersey Shore Publications), The Random House Treasury of Friendship Poems (Random House), Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 (Santa Monica Press), and The Breath of Parted Lips II: Voices from the Frost Place (CavanKerry Books). One of his poems (“For the Children of the World Trade Center Victims”) has been cast in bronze and acquired as part of the permanent collection at Grounds for Sculpture, an outdoor sculpture museum in Hamilton, New Jersey. Mr. Ward is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for Poetry and two Distinguished Artist Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He has also been awarded four full fellowships from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to live and work at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has also received two full fellowships from the Artists/Teachers Institute, and served as University Distinguished Fell