Jeffery Beam

Poet, Spoken Word Artist

Author's Bio

Jeffery Beam's work hailed for its "transcendent, lush beauty, its minimal sacrament, simplicity & physicality" fuses the physical & spiritual worlds, creating a conversation between the natural world, the body, & the spirit.

Beam is the author of over 25 works of poetry, essay, & musical collaborations.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Succinct The Broadstone Anthology of Short Poems (Broadstone Books, 2013)
,
Collective Brightness (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011)
,
Visiting Dr. Williams (University of Iowa Press, 2011)
,
Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont (University of North Carolina Press, 2010)
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Light in Ordinary Things (Fearless Books, 2009)
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Charmed Lives (White Crane Books, 2006)
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New Growth: Shauna Holiman and Friends - New Songs and Spoken Poems (Albany Records, 2002)
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Gay Roots (Leyland Publishing, 1991)
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Son of the Male Muse (Crossing Press, 1983)
Books:
The New Beautiful Tendons: Collected Queer Poems 1969-2012 (Spuyten Duyvil, 2013)
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Midwinter Fires (Seven Kitchens Press, 2012)
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The Broken Flower (Skysill Press, 2012)
,
Gospel Earth (Skysill Press, 2010)
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MountSeaEden (Chester Creek Press, 2010)
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An Invocation (Country Valley Press, 2008)
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The Beautiful Tendons: Uncollected Queer Poems 1969 - 2007 (White Crane Books, 2008)
,
Gospel Earth (Longhouse, 2006)
,
Contemporay Gay American Poets and Playwrights (Greenwood Press, 2003)
,
What We Have Lost: New & Selected Poems (Green Finch, 2002)
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Life of the Bee (Rock Valley Music, 2001)
,
An Elizabethan Bestiary: Retold (Horse & Buggy, 1999)
,
Light and Shadow (Aperture, 1997)
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Visions of Dame Kind (Jargon Society, 1995)
,
The Fountain (North Carolina Wesleyan College Press, 1992)
Journals:
Asheville Poetry Review
, , , ,
Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review
, ,
Yellow Silk
Prizes won: 

Have received numerous awards and grants including three American Library Association Notable Book and Gay / Lesbian Non-fiction Award nominations, a Pushcart nomination, an IPPY Ten Best Books Award, an Audie Award, an AIGA 50 Best Books Award, a Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival Award, a North Carolina Writers Network Blumenthal Writer and Reader Award, a Durham Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant, a Duke University Chronicle Award, a Writer's Digest Editor Award for best E-Zine poetry outlet, a 1998 Associated Press Holiday Gift Giving Ideas, and a grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. His work as an educator was highlighted in The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons that Nurture Wisdom and Empathy by Jane Dalton and Lyn Fairchild. Beam is also the recipient of a Preservation Award from the 2004 Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, and the first annual Provost Award for Public Service from the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Public Service in 2000. His highly regarded readings were chosen thrice by The Independent Weekly as Best Bets & Eight Days a Week Our Picks, and as a Smart Bet by Asheville's Mountain Xpress newspaper. Beam has read at two North Carolina Literary Festivals and the UNC-CH North Carolina Collection's Second Sunday Reading series, was inducted in the North Carolina Writers Conference, was an invited guest to the Durham Public Library's Centennial NC Writers Gala, a 2002 Parade Marshal for the NC Gay Pride Festival, and served for ten years as a judge for the Lambda Book Awards.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Appalachian, Celtic American, European American, LGBTQ, Scotch-Irish American
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, At Risk Youth, Children, LGBTQ, Homelessness, Illness/Wellness, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Incarcerated individuals, Seniors, Teachers, Teenagers
Born in: 
Concord
Raised in: 
Kannapolis, NC
North Carolina
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Nov 14, 2018