Kwame Dawes is a Ghanaian-born Jamaican writer who has published numerous poetry collections. In 2011 he was awarded the Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers Award in recognition of his generosity to other writers and the broader literary community. He is director of the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica and founder of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize. He is now Professor of English at the University of Nebraska and editor-in-chief at the journal Prairie Schooner.