Sturge Town

“Sturge Town is named for one of the earliest free villages in Jamaica, Dawes’s family home. From this psychogeographic starting point…unspools a richly intelligent, deeply descriptive exploration of home and identity…This personal odyssey becomes a universal journey.” – Fiona Sampson - The Guardian“Kwame Dawes is an exquisite poet, a profound poet, a quiet poet, a great poet.” – Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other“Every poem in this collection seems to be the best of what it tries to be, whether an observation, anthropological recovery, ode, elegy, or even an ars poetica…This verse collection is the twenty-first for Dawes, and the eighty-six poems here demonstrate a full, masterful command of his art.” – Scott LaMascus - World Literature Today“Like one of his heroes, Bob Marley, Dawes changes not just the way readers look at the world but the lens through which they see reality. His is a transcendent vision, filled with tenderness, curiosity, and compassion for what has been and what might be.” – Herman Sutter - Library Journal (starred review)“Wise and generous, this illustrates a poetic journey toward self-understanding.” – Publishers Weekly

Kwame Dawes is the author of numerous books of poetry and other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. Dawes is a George W. Holmes University Professor of English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner. He is a chancellor emeritus for the Academy of American Poets and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Dawes is the winner of the Windham-Campbell Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2022, Kwame Dawes was awarded the Order of Distinction Commander class by the Government of Jamaica. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.