Department of English

Evan Gray is a poet born and raised in the mountains of North Carolina. He is the author  of Thickets Swamped in Fence-Coated Briars which has been called “a guide to interior Appalachia” by the historian Elizabeth Catte; “a hard look at an evolving world with eyes open to the challenges of poverty, development, loss, and the inevitability of change” by Appalachian Journal; “As if Frank Standford and Jonathan Williams studied Marx before bed” by The Southern Review of Books; "Pure genius” by Karly Hartzman of Wednesday; and “complex and important poetry that demands that we rise to understand him” by DIAGRAM. He is also the author of three chapbooks: Dusk Melody (Shirt-Pocket Press); Body Birth (above/ground Press); and Blindspot (the Rest (Garden-Door Press). His individual work has been featured in Denver Quarterly, Yalobusha Review, Joyland, Afternoon Visitor, Annulet, Tarpaulin Sky Magazine, and more. Gray has earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and given lectures on poetics supported by The Mellon Foundation at Cornell University and Duke University. Currently, he is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Appalachian State University.

Academic Specialty:
Poetry and Poetics

Education:
MFA University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Books:
Thickets Swamped in Fence-Coated Briars (Garden-Door Press 2023)

Chapbooks:
Dusk Melody (Shirt-Pocket Press, 2019)
Body Birth (Above/Ground Press, 2019)
Blindspot (the Rest (Garden-Door Press, 2018)

Essays:
“Morning Buzz Through a Worn-Our Speaker: The Practice of Compost and Music  in Nathan Hauke’s Indian
Summer Recycling.” DIAGRAM. Fall 2020.
“A Field Worn in Rows and Buckets of Cud Thrown Through the Combine.” DIAGRAM. Spring 2019.

Poems:
“a crevice, a consequence of this.” Sampsonia Way. Winter 2021.
“static human: leafstalk tooth margin.” Denver Quarterly. Winter 2020.
“SHOE-MOUTH GARDEN.” Dreginald. Fall 2019.
“From Wretch Poetics.” Duise: Tuesday Poem of the Week #311. Fall 2019.
“MUDHOLE.” Tarpaulin Sky Magazine. Summer 2019.
“the michael jordan of systematic oppression.” Dream Pop Press. Spring 2018.
“Winter, 2013.” Word For/Word Journal. Winter 2018.
“Look Mudhole, They Bulldozed the Mtn. & Put a Dollar General In.” Gigantic Sequins 6th Annual Contest Finalist. Selected by Eduardo C. Corral. 2017.