John Skoyles was born in Queens, New York in 1949. He attended Fairfield University and the University of Iowa. He has taught at Southern Methodist University, Sarah Lawrence College and Warren Wilson College where he directed the MFA Program for Writers from 1984 -- 1992. He was executive director of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts from 1992 -- 94 and again from January -- July 2007. His awards include two individual fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as grants from the New York State and North Carolina Arts Councils. He teaches at Emerson College in Boston and is the poetry editor of Ploughshares.


Books

* A Little Faith, poetry (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1981)
* Permanent Change, poetry (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1991)
* The Smoky Mountain Cage Bird Society and Other Magical Tales from Everyday Life, personal essay (New York: Kodansha International, 1997)
* Definition of the Soul, poetry (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1998)
* Generous Strangers and Other Moments from My Life, personal essay (New York: Kodansha International, 1999) This is a re-titled paperback reprint of "The Smoky Mountain Cage Bird Society."
* Secret Frequencies: A New York Education, memoir (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003)
* The Situation, poetry (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2007)