Biography

Frank Dixon Graham is a professor of English and poetry at the Los Rios Colleges and UC Davis International School. Graham has instructed upon English composition from basic to advanced levels as well as poetry through the Los Rios Colleges. For several years, the professor has also taught many classes on the UC Davis campus to students enrolled in the Entry Level Writing Program. Graham also instructs upon English as it relates to American culture and international business to visiting scholars at the UC Davis Center for International Education. Frequently, Graham's courses are for scholars who are commencing upon a Fulbright fellowship. In addition to his work in academia, Professor Graham has taught Contemporary Poetry, International Forms and Styles of Poetry, Romantic Poetry, and Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American Poetry as free or low cost adult community education courses through a nonprofit literary center and the Sacramento Library system.

Graham's poems have been published in This Land, Harvard University Scriptorium, Hawaii Pacific Review, Evansville Review, Song of the San Joaquin, and many other journals. His two chapbooks are The Infinite in Between and Out on the Reach. Both books are published by his own imprint, Broken Arrow Press. He once read for a performance of the Sacramento Ballet. As a winner of a contest, he studied under Naomi Shihab Nye at the literary branch of Tulsa's Harwelden. The poet served as Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal Tule Review and Poetry Now for several years each. He was editor for three different genres over three different issues of The Pitkin Review. His poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Mr. Graham was a member of the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Poetry Center for almost fifteen years. Upon departing the SPC, in 2020, Graham helped to found another literary nonprofit organization known as Sacramento Poetry Alliance. Graham also founded, organized, and coordinated a few ongoing programs, including Fifth Monday Charitable Readings and Literary Lectures, both of which were instituted over ten years ago. His organization, Sacramento Poets for Peace, has held several large readings with the purpose of promoting social justice. Graham organizes the National Gathering of Social Justice Poets & Writers which often convenes at the annual American Writers and Writing Programs Conference.

Graham attended the University of Arkansas and the University of Oklahoma and had a long career in business before switching his focus to teaching. He earned a certificate in higher education pedagogy though Harvard's Derok Bok School of Education and also studied poetry and creative writing at the Harvard Extension School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, doing work under Daniel Bosch, Ellen Cooney, and others . The professor also received certification in online pedagogy and educational technology from the University of Cape Town. A certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language was secured, as well, and Graham holds an award from the rigorous two-year sequence for professional editors program at UC Berkeley. Another certificate, in grant writing, was completed, by not yet conferred, via a nonprofit association resource center. Graham graduated with an MFA in Writing from Goddard College in Port Townsend, Washington.

As an enthusiast of sports, nature, culture, and the arts, the professor enjoys travelling internationally and has visited Bangkok, Paris, Havana, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Cape Town, and London in recent years.

PUBLICATIONS & PRIZES

Fiction

Journal:

Munyori Poetry Journal

Poetry

Chapbooks/Minibook:

The Infinite In Between (Broken Arrow Press, 2013)

Out On the Reach (Broken Arrow Press, 2009)

Haiku (24th Street Irregular Press, 2008)

Journals (partial listing):

Clackamas Literary Review, Convergence, Cosumnes River Journal, Feelings Journal, Haiku Journal, Harvard Scriptorium, Hawaii Pacific Review, Medusa's Kitchen, Munyori Literary Journal, Paper Wasp, Poems-For-All, Poet's Page, Poetry Midwest, Poetry Now, Poets Against the War, portal, Rattlesnake Review, The Evansville Review, This Land

Prizes 

Pushcart Prize, Nominee, 2023; Muriel Craft Bailey Prize, Honorable Mention, 2022; New Issues Poetry Prize, Semi-Finalist, 2020; Jack Kerouac Prize, Honorable Mention, 2019; Jack Kerouac Prize, Honorable Mention, 2018