James R. Whitley was born in Mount Vernon, NY. His poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize as well as The Best of the Net and has appeared in numerous literary publications, including 42opus, African American Review, Barrelhouse, Controlled Burn, Gargoyle, Mississippi Review, Pebble Lake Review, and River City. Whitley's first full-length poetry collection IMMERSION (Lotus Press, 2002) was selected by Lucille Clifton as the winner of the 2001 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award. His second collection THIS IS THE RED DOOR (Ironweed Press, 2009) won the Ironweed Poetry Prize and a Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry. His third poetry collection, THE GODDESS OF GOODBYE, was published by Word Press in 2009. He is also the author of the poetry chapbooks PIETA (Pudding House Publications, 2001) and THE GOLDEN WEB (Wind River Press, 2003). Currently, he lives in Massachusetts.
