Larry D. Thomas

Last updated
Larry D. Thomas
Larry Thomas Portraits 009 edited.jpg
Larry D. Thomas, 2006
Born1947
Haskell, Texas, U.S.
OccupationPoet
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Houston
GenrePoetry
Website
www.larrydthomas.com

Larry D. Thomas (born 1947) is an American poet. [1] He was the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate, [2] and in 2009 was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.

Contents

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Haskell, Texas in 1947. He attended the University of Houston, where he earned a Bachelor's in English in 1970. [3]

Career

Early career

While earning his degree Thomas worked as a social services caseworker. [4] He was drafted into the Navy after graduation. His orders had placed him in Norfolk, Virginia, where he worked as a prison counselor for the naval base. Thomas continued to work in the prison system after his discharge, working in the adult probation field in Houston, Texas. [3]

Writing career

Thomas began writing while he was in the service and continued writing after he retired in 1998. [5] [3] His first collection of poetry, The Lighthouse Keeper, was published in January 2001 through Timberline Press. That same year he published Amazing Grace through the Texas Review Press. The collection won several prizes, which included the 2003 Western Heritage Wrangler Award. [6] Thomas would receive the award a second time in 2015 for The Goatherd and has since won other awards. [7]

In April 2007 Thomas was appointed by the Texas Legislature as the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate and in 2009, was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. [8]

Awards

Bibliography

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Eloise Klein Healy is an American poet. She has published five books of poetry and three chapbooks. Her collection of poems, Passing, was a finalist for the 2003 Lambda Literary Awards in Poetry and the Audre Lorde Award from The Publishing Triangle. Healy has also received the Grand Prize of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and has received six Pushcart Prize nominations.

Al Young American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter

Albert James Young was an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor.

John Busteed Lee is a Canadian author and poet who is Poet Laureate of Brantford, Ontario. He has received more than 60 prestigious international awards for poetry.

Cilla McQueen New Zealand poet (born 1949)

Priscilla Muriel McQueen is a poet and three-time winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry.

Vassar Miller was a writer and poet. She served as Poet Laureate of Texas (1988-1989).

Juan Felipe Herrera American writer

Juan Felipe Herrera is a poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist. Herrera was the 21st United States Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017.

Luisa Igloria

Luisa A. Igloria is a Filipina American poet and author of various award-winning collections, and is the current Poet Laureate of Virginia.

Melissa Morphew is an American poet.

Michael S. Glaser is an American poet who served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 2004 to 2009.

Denise Low is an American poet, honored as the second Kansas poet laureate (2007–2009). A professor at Haskell Indian Nations University, Low teaches literature, creative writing and American Indian studies courses at the university. She was succeeded by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg on July 1, 2009.

Wally Swist is an American poet and writer. He is best known for his poems about nature and spirituality.

Wendy Barker is an American poet. She is Poet-in-Residence and the Pearl LeWinn Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she has taught since 1982.

Jack Elliott Myers

Jack Elliott Myers, was an American poet and educator. He was Texas Poet Laureate in 2003, and served on the faculty of Southern Methodist University in Dallas for more than 30 years. He was director of creative writing at SMU from 2001 through 2009. Myers co-founded The Writer's Garret, a nonprofit literary center in Dallas, with his wife, Thea Temple. He published numerous books of and about poetry, and served as a mentor for aspiring writers at SMU and as part of the writers' community and mentoring project of The Writer's Garret.

Pecan Grove Press publishes primarily poetry books and chapbooks. Though sponsored by the Department of English and The Academic Library of St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, the press is self-supporting. Founded in 1988 by St. Mary's faculty member, Karen Navarte, Pecan Grove Press has served poets for more than 20 years. It receives approximately 300 manuscripts for consideration yearly and has produced more than 110 books. Although the press's scope includes poets from across the state of Texas and as far away as Canada, it remains true to its roots by continuing to publish at least one San Antonio poet each year.

Valerie Martínez is an American poet, educator, arts administrator, and collaborative artist.

Jerry Bradley (poet)

Jerry W. Bradley is an American poet and university professor.

Laurie Ann Guerrero is a Chicana poet from San Antonio, Texas. She was the poet laureate of San Antonio from 2014-2016 and the Poet Laureate of Texas from 2016-2017. In the fall semester of 2017, she became the first writer-in-residence at Texas A&M University San Antonio and a "fully immersed faculty member. She will teach a contemporary American woman poets course, host numerous University writing workshops and mentor students while working on her next writing project."

Michelle Hartman is an American author and poet. Born in Fort Worth in 1956, she attended Texas Wesleyan College in the early 1970s. Her major was Political Science until she dropped out of school. She finished her bachelor's degree in 2007, with a major in Political Science Pre-Law. After receiving a Certificate in Paralegal Studies from Tarrant County College, she worked as a paralegal. She began writing poetry of political and social satire using fairy tales as a vehicle. Her first book, Disenchanted and Disgruntled, was published by Lamar University Literary Press in 2013.

David M. Parsons

David Mercier Parsons was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, and is an American author, poet, and educator. Raised in Austin, Texas, he was named by the Texas State Legislature in 2011 to a one-year term as Poet Laureate of Texas, commemorated by the publication of David M. Parsons New & Selected Poems by the Texas Christian University Press. His most recent book is the poetry collection Reaching for Longer Water. Parsons holds a BBA from Texas State University and an MA from the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program where he studied poetry and literature with Edward Hirsch, Stanley Plumly, Richard Howard, Robert Pinsky and Howard Moss. 

Ricardo Sánchez (poet) Pinto poetry, Chicanismo, and Chicano literature

Ricardo Sánchez was a writer, poet, professor, and activist. Sometimes called the "Grandfather of Chicano poetry," Sánchez gained national acclaim for his 1971 poetry collection Canto y Grito Mi Liberacion. Incarcerated in his twenties for stealing money to feed his struggling family, Sánchez read extensively and even learned Hebrew while at Soledad Prison in California. Upon his release in 1969, his poems were included in a poetry anthology. In 1971, his first solo collection of poetry was published, establishing Sánchez as one of the nation's most important Chicano poets.

References

  1. Cortez, Sarah (2020-10-14). "Two Poets: Part 1". Texas Books in Review. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  2. HORTON, MARIANNE (2007-06-13). "Montrose man honored as poet laureate". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 LASSIN, ARLENE NISSON (2005-04-21). "Faces in the Crowd: Larry D. Thomas". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  4. "Larry D. Thomas: 2008 Texas Poet Laureate". UH Alumni Quarterly. University of Houston Alumni Association. Summer 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  5. "Vita -- Larry D. Thomas". www.larrydthomas.com. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  6. 1 2 "Past Western Heritage Award Winners". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  7. 1 2 "Thomas' muse lives in West Texas". Odessa American. April 5, 2015. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  8. 1 2 "Texas Poets Laureate". TSLAC. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  9. "Texas Institute of Letters: Active Members". Texas Institute of Letters. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  10. Miller, Michelle (2004). "Out of the dust, into the blue". Texas Books in Review. 24 (2–3) via Gale Literature Resource Center.
  11. PHILLIPS, ROBERT (2005-02-06). "'Skulls Speak Wind,' and Thomas hears every word". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  12. Oliphant, Dave (2006-06-22). "Texas stereotypes revisited". Texas Books in Review. 26 (2): 12–14.
  13. O&amp, Courtney; apos; Banion (2008-09-22). "Poetry and the art of motorcycle maintenance". Texas Books in Review. 28 (3–4): 22–24.
  14. Hada, Ken (2010-03-22). "The poet brushes multiple canvasses". Texas Books in Review: 23–25.
  15. Belcik, Jennifer (2011-03-22). "Poet licensed for birds". Texas Books in Review: 19–21.
  16. Alfier, Jeffrey (Fall 2011 – Winter 2012). "Review of Larry D. Thomas". Valparaiso Poetry Review. XIII (1).
  17. Wilde, Dana (2015-01-08). "OFF RADAR: "The Lobsterman's Dream"". Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  18. Conroy, Ed (2015-06-20). "Poetry collection is a portrait of the Mexican soul". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2020-10-09.