The Writer’s Block: A Q&A with Kwame Dawes

Kwame Dawes is a Ghanaian-born Jamaican poet, novelist, and playwright. He is the author of twenty one books of poetry and numerous books of fiction, non-fiction, criticism, and drama. Dawes is also an accomplished actor, producer, and musician, acting and directing in several of his own plays and collaborating with other musicians to produce performances of his poetry. In 2001, Dawes co-founded the Calabash International Literary Festival. Dawes is currently the Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska, where he is a Chancellor’s Professor of English, a faculty member of Cave Canem, and a teacher in the Pacific MFA Program in Oregon. His most recent work includes City of Bones and Speak from Here to There, which he co-authored with John Kinsella.

In this interview with Sampsonia Way, Dawes speaks about what moves him to write, his writing routine, and the works he continues to revisit throughout his career.