J. Michael Martinez is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Life

J. Michael Martinez was born and raised in

Greeley, Colorado Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 17.12% since the ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNCO or UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado, United States. It was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has offi ...

, and

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, with an MFA in creative writing. His work has appeared in ''New American Writing'', ''Five Fingers Review'', ''The Colorado Review'', and ''Crab Orchard Review''. He is the recipient of the 2006 Five Fingers Review Poetry Prize and is co-editor and co-founder of Breach Press. Martinez and Gabriel Gomez had a panel at the 2009

AWP AWP may refer to: Organizations Political parties *American Workers Party *Animal Welfare Party, a political party in the United Kingdom * Australian Workers Party, a political party in Australia *Awami Workers Party, a left-wing political party ...

conference together. In 2009, Martinez's poetry collection ''Heredities'' was selected by

Juan Felipe Herrera Juan Felipe Herrera (born on December 27, 1948) is an American poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist. Herrera was the 21st United States Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017. He is a major figure in the literary field of Chicano ...

for the Academy of American Poets'

Walt Whitman Award The Walt Whitman Award is a poetry award administered by the Academy of American Poets. Named after poet Walt Whitman, the award is based on a competition of book-length poetry manuscripts by American poets who have not yet published a book. It ...

for first book publication. About his work, Herrera wrote:

Heredities breaks away from four decades of inquiry into cultural identity. Martinez's exhilarating descent into the unspoken—lit by metaphysical investigations, physiological charts, and meta-translations of Hernán Cortés's accounts of his conquests—gives voice to a dismembered continental body buried long ago. This body, though flayed and fractured, rises and sings.

Awards

* 2006 Five Fingers Review Poetry Prize * 2009

from the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...

. * 2017

National Poetry Series The National Poetry Series is an American literary awards program. Every year since 1979, the National Poetry Series has sponsored the publication of five books of poetry. Manuscripts are solicited through an annual open competition, judged and c ...

chosen by

Cornelius Eady Cornelius Eady (born 1954) is an American writer focusing largely on matters of race and society. His poetry often centers on jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questions of race and class. His poetry is o ...

for

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

Work

Poetry

* ''Heredities'', LSU Press, 2010, * ''In the Garden of the Bridehouse'', University of Arizona Press, 2014, * ''Museum of the Americas'', Penguin Random House, 2018,

Anthology

* ''Junta: Avant-Garde Latino/a Writing''.

References

External links

Poets.org Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, J. Michael Living people American male poets George Mason University alumni Hispanic and Latino American poets People from Greeley, Colorado University of Northern Colorado alumni Year of birth missing (living people)