Rodney Jones

Rodney Glenn Jones (born 1950) is an American poet raised in rural Alabama near Falkville. He earned a B.A. from the University of Alabama in 1971 and an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1973, taught poetry in high schools and served as writer-in-residence before becoming a professor of English at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, retiring in 2012. Notable works include Transparent Gestures (1989, National Book Critics Circle Award winner) and Elegy for the Southern Drawl (1999, Pulitzer finalist); awards also feature Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.