James R. Whitley’s work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has appeared or is forthcoming in several literary publications, including Barrelhouse, Can We Have Our Ball Back?, elimae, FRiGG, Mississippi Review, Pebble Lake Review, Poetry Southeast, the strange fruit, and Texas Poetry Journal. Whitley’s first book Immersion (Lotus Press, 2002) was selected by Lucille Clifton as the winner of the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award. His second collection This Is the Red Door won the Ironweed Press Poetry Prize and will be published in 2007. Currently, Whitley resides in western Massachusetts where he is the Assistant Dean/Campus Director at Springfield College's School of Human Services.