A Field Guide to Northeast Alabama
About Jake Adam York
Raised near Gadsden in northeast Alabama by his steelworker father and his mother, a history teacher, Jake Adam York (1972-2012) studied architecture and English at Auburn University. He received an M.F.A. in creative writing and English literature from Cornell University. He is currently an associate professor of English at the University of Colorado, Denver, where he directs the creative writing program. York has published two books of poetry, Murder Ballads (2005), and A Murmuration of Starlings (2008), and his poems have appeared in various journals, including Blackbird, Diagram, Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, H_NGM_N, New Orleans Review, Shenandoah, and Southern Review.
Interview with Natasha Trethewey
Part 2: York discusses his relation to “the southern writer,” racial geography and history, industry and manufacturing in Alabama
Part 3: York discusses family history and local reception of his work: are his poems political?
Part 4: York discusses the ethics and practice of writing as well as the residue of violence