James Croal Jackson (he/him/his) was born in Akron, Ohio. After graduating from Baldwin Wallace University with degrees in Film Studies and Creative Writing, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in the film and television industry. Living in his Ford Fiesta near the ocean, James rediscovered his love for poetry, and has since been published in over 1,000 literary magazines including Hobart, The Indianapolis Review, Rust+Moth, Whale Road Review, and Columbia Journal. His latest release, Our Past Leaves, is available in the Kelsay Books Bookstore and on Amazon. His first chapbook, The Frayed Edge of Memory, is available through Writing Knights Press and Amazon. Count Seeds With Me (Ethel Zine and Micro-Press) will be released in April 2022. He founded the journal The Mantle Poetry in 2017.

In 2015, looking to move to a different city, he embarked on a long road trip, working various food delivery jobs and crowdsource gigs to stay afloat. Thirty-seven states in, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he dove headfirst into the city’s robust poetry community, winning the 2016 William Redding Memorial Poetry Prize, sponsored by The Poetry Forum, the city’s longest running poetry series. He has been nominated multiple times for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.

In 2018, he moved to Pittsburgh, PA, and is once again working in the film industry.

Email: JamesCroalJackson@gmail.com // twitter // instagram // facebook