Tom Jones
Tom Jones is an honors graduate of Harvard University (B.A. 1965), Columbia University School of Law (J.D. 1968), and George Mason University (M.F.A. 1992), with undergraduate language and literature studies at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, the University of Madrid, and the Goethe Institute. He has published nine collections of poems: No Prisoners (Skeptic Magazine Press, Santa Barbara, 1976); Footbridge to India (Writers Workshop, Calcutta (Kolkata), India, 1990); Madmen and Bassoons (Writers Workshop, 1992); Green Lake (Writers Workshop, 1996); Rez Dreamtime (Writers Workshop, 2001); Writing on Horseback (Writers Workshop 2004); India Poems: Songs of Sarasvati (Writers Workshop 2004); Canoeing the Moon and other poems (Legal Studies Forum reprint, 2008); and Nearing Palenque / Reflections on Native America (2012). More than one hundred of his poems have been published in literary magazines and anthologies, including The Nation, The New Republic, and The Yale Review. Mr. Jones has also published his translations of the late Spanish poet Miguel Hernandez’s poems, Songbook of Absences (The Charioteer Press, Washington, D.C., 1972; reprinted 1980) and, with the author, Dominican Republic poet Rei Berroa’s Spanish poems, Book of Fragments (Writers Workshop, 1992).
Before devoting himself to teaching, Mr. Jones worked for many years as an international human rights lawyer, serving as Washington representative of Amnesty International U.S.A. from 1972 to 1979 and as a lawyer-delegate on six A.I. human rights investigative missions: Spain, 1975; The Philippines, 1975; Malaysia, 1978; Brunei, 1978; Singapore, 1978; and Egypt, 1979.
Tom Jones was appointed Visiting Professor of Poetry at Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal, India, Fall Term 1990, where he organized and taught the university’s first Creative Writing program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also taught six consecutive semesters at Navajo Community College (now Dine College), Tuba City, Arizona (1993-94).
Mr. Jones taught for four years at Greyhills Academy High School, Tuba City, Arizona, where he served as Academic Dean (Department Chair) of Language Arts during his last year there (1994-98). From 1998 to 2014, he taught language arts including A.P. Literature at Tuba City High School. He received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Flinn Foundation in 2000, and he was one of ten finalists for the Arizona Teacher of the Year Award (2003).
Tom Jones was a Presenting Writer in the annual (Fall) Native American Artists and Writers Forums (2000-2005), and the annual (Spring) Native American Drama and Fine Arts Festivals (1996-98, 2001, 2003-06), reading his poems and presenting Poetry Writing Workshops. He was “Special Guest” writer at the 16th Rocky Mountain Writers Festival, Pocatello, Idaho, March 27-April 1, (2006). He was featured reader at a Linneman's Riverwest Inn Poet's Night, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, each of the last two years.
His tenth book of poems, Beyond Existentialism, including 52 pages of his black and white photographs juxtaposed with 52 pages of selections from his poems, will be published this year (2015) by FootHills Publishing, achieving completion of a 40-year project.
See Photography Career Summary under "Contact".