— Bio —

James Knisely’s first novel Chance: An Existential Horse Opera was a finalist for the 2003 Washington State Book Awards.

His poetry and prose have appeared in Exquisite Corpse; Rosebud; North Dakota Quarterly; Knock; the brilliant but now defunct Point No Point; Summit; and online in Hippocampus and with several essays at HistoryLink.org.

His new novel The Black Bookends is seeking representation.

Knisely has been a backcountry firefighter in the Washington Cascades, a New York City youth worker and a Princeton Seminary divinity student. He served 20 years as a Washington State Parole Officer.

He’s honored to be the Novelist-In-Residence Emeritus at Seattle’s legendary Blue Moon Tavern, an honor he shares with Tom Robbins.