TIPTON, James 1942-

(James Sherwood Tipton)

PERSONAL: Born January 18, 1942, in Ashland, OH; son of James Robert (in business) and Ruth Loucetta (Burcher) Tipton; married Lynn Ellen Johnson (a teacher), September 5, 1965 (divorced); children: Jennifer Lynn, James Daniel. Education: Purdue University, B.A., 1964, M.A., 1968.

ADDRESSES: Home—1122 Aquarius Ave., Fruita, CO 81521. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI, writer-in-residence, 1969–70; Alma College, Alma, MI, began as assistant professor, became associate professor of English, department chair and director of cultural affairs, 1970–83; stockbroker, 1983–94; High Desert Honey Co., Glade Park, CO, owner and beekeeper, 1994–. Worked as investment consultant to Thomson, McKinnon & Kemper Securities, 1983–94. U.S. Department of Education, director of young Michigan writers project. Guest speaker at educational institutions, including Interlochen Arts Academy, Ohio State University, Adrian College, Western Michigan University, Bowling Green State University, and Poetry Center at San Francisco State University; presenter, Michigan Poetry in the Schools project.

MEMBER: Mesa County, CO, Friends of the Library.

AWARDS, HONORS: Bread Loaf scholar in poetry, 1969; grant from National Endowment for the Humanities, 1972; first prize, Birmingham, AL, Festival of the Arts, 1973, for story "Baby Jesus"; Michigan Council for the Arts grants, 1975, 1982; The Giant Alphabet named one of ten best poetry books of the year by Bloomsbury Review, 1987; Colorado Book Award in poetry, 1999, for Letters from a Stranger: Poems.

WRITINGS:

Convent Pieces, Goliards Press, 1969.

Matters of Love (poetry), Cranium Press (San Francisco, CA), 1970.

Sentences (poetry), Cranium Press (San Francisco, CA), 1970.

Bittersweet (poetry), Cold Mountain Press (Austin, TX), 1975.

(Editor, with Herbert Scott and Conrad Hilberry, and contributor) The Third Coast: Contemporary Michigan Poetry, Wayne State University Press (Detroit, MI), 1976.

(Editor, with Robert Wegner, and contributor) The Third Coast: Contemporary Michigan Fiction, Wayne State University Press (Detroit, MI), 1982.

The Giant Alphabet (poetry), Leaping Mountain Press, 1987.

The Wizard of Is (poetry), Bread and Butter Press, 1995.

Letters from a Stranger: Poems, foreword by Isabel Allende, Conundrum Press (Crested Butte, CO), 1998.

Work anthologized in numerous publications, including The Haiku Anthology, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974; The Red Moon Anthology, edited by Jim Kacian, Red Moon Press, 1998; The Geography of Hope, edited by David J. Rothman, Conundrum Press, 1998; Bleeding Hearts, edited by Michelle Lovric, Aurum (England), 1998, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999; and Intimate Kisses: The Poetry of Sexual Pleasure, edited by Wendy Maltz, New World Library (New York, NY), 2001. Contributor of poetry, short stories, translations, and reviews to literary journals and magazines, including Crazy Horse, Satire Newsletter, Greenfield Review, American Tanka, Nation, Esquire, South Dakota Review, Carolina Quarterly, Contemporary Poetry, and Southern Humanities Review.