James Thomas Stevens is a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Tribe. James briefly attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Brooklyn College. He finished his undergraduate schooling at the Institute of American Indian Arts, with an AFA in Creative Writing. While attending IAIA, he was awarded the Gerald Red Elk Scholarship to attend the Naropa Institute Summer Writing Program and studied under, Anne Waldman, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Anselm Hollo. Upon graduating in 1990, James was given a full fellowship to attend the Brown University Graduate Writing Program. In the fall of 1993, his first manuscript, Tokinish, was published.His second work, Notes on the Music I Never Heard, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 1996. James has published in many journals including Blue Mesa Review, Mandorla, First Intensity, Tan Tien (China), The Alembic, Exit Zero, and Arts Advocate Magazine of New Mexico.
James has been an Instructor of Poetry at Brown University and has worked with the anti-drug program, Wateauonk, at the Narragansett Community House (1991). James taught at Haskell Indian Nations University and currently teaches in the English Department at the State University of New York at Fredonia.
