David T. Lloyd (1954–) Biography

(David Lloyd)

Personal

Born 1954, in Utica, NY; Education: St. Lawrence University, B.A., 1975; University of Vermont, M.A., 1978; Brown University, M.A. (creative writing) and Ph.D., 1985.

Addresses

Office—English Department, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY 13214.

Career

Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, 1985–, assistant professor, associate professor, then professor of English and director of creative-writing program, Rev. Francis J. Fallon, SJ, professor, 1999–2001, Rev. Kevin G. O'Connell, SJ, professor in the humanities, 2005–08; freelance writer. Poet-in-residence, Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Ithaca, NY, 2001, and Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2002.

Honors Awards

Scholar of the Year, Le Moyne University, 1995; New York State Foundation for the Arts/Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts stipend, 2000, 2002, 2004; first prize, TallGrass Anthology Contest, 2000, for poems "Expedition" and "Creatures within Give Advice"; David T. LloydRobert H. Winner Memorial Award, Poetry Society of America, 2000, and first place in tradition verse category, Oregon State Poetry Association, 2001, both for "Sestinas for the Everyday Apocalypse"; Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award, 2000–01; Pushcart Award nomination, 2001, for story "As Always, Jason"; Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society chapbook contest winter, 2002, for The Everyday Apocalypse; New American Press poetry book contest winner, 2003, for The Gospel according to Frank.

Writings

(Editor) The Urgency of Identity: Contemporary English-Language Poetry from Wales, TriQuarterly Books (Evanston, IL), 1994.

Writing on the Edge: Interviews with Writers and Editors of Wales, Rodopi (Atlanta, GA), 1997.

The Everyday Apocalypse (poetry), Three Conditions Press (Baltimore, MD), 2002.

The Gospel according to Frank (poetry), New American Press (Greensboro, NC), 2003.

(Under name David Lloyd) Boys: Stories and a Novella, Syracuse University Press (Syracuse, NY), 2004.

Contributor of poetry to books, including Knowing Stones: Poems of Exotic Places, John Gordon Burke Publishing, 2000; Earth Beneath, Sky Beyond, Outrider Press, 2000; A Storied Singer: Frank Sinatra as Literary Conceit, Greenwood Press, 2001; and A Due Voci: The Photographs of Rita Hammond, Syracuse University, 2003; and periodicals, including Crab Orchard Review, Denver Quarterly, Verseweavers, and Doubletake. Contributor of essays and interviews to books, including The Writer in Our World, edited by Reginald Gibbons, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986; Poetry Wales: 25 Years, Seren Books, 1990; Self, World, Poem: Essays on Contemporary Poetry, Kent State University Press, 1990; Contiguous Traditions in Post-War British Poetry, 1994; Seamus Heaney: The Shaping Spirit, University of Delaware Press, 1996; and Twayne Companion to Contemporary World Literature, 2003; and to periodicals, including Twentieth Century Literature. Contributor of fiction to periodicals, including Del Sol Review and Salt Hill.

Sidelights

Poet and fiction writer David T. Lloyd is also a professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Le Moyne College in upstate New York. In his published poems and articles, Lloyd shares his interest in post-World War II literature as well as other aspects of Irish/Welsh studies. The anthology The Urgency of Identity: Contemporary English-Language Poetry from Wales, which Lloyd edited, appeared in 1994; his first poetry collection, 2002's The Everyday Apocalypse, was a winner of the Maryland State Poetry and Literary Society chapbook contest; his second collection, 2003's The Gospel according to Frank, won the New American Press poetry book contest. Lloyd has also received the Poetry Society of America's Robert H. Winner Memorial Award.

Lloyd's first published collection of prose, Boys: Stories and a Novella, focuses on the lives of adolescent boys growing up in New York during the mid-1960s. The protagonists of Lloyd's tales face obstacles, sometimes Lloyd's collection of short fiction has been praised for its sensitively observed portraits of boys' experiences while growing up in rural America during the 1960s. (Cover photograph by Catrin Lloyd-Bolland.)throwing caution to the wind as they test their physical and emotional limitations. In the novella Boys Only thirteen-year-old Chris takes a risk by joining best friends Joey and Frank in forming an exclusive gang, gains his first insight into adult sexuality, and suffers his first romantic crush. Other stories include "No Boundaries," about a combative dodge ball game; "As Always, Jason," about a boy's efforts to gain attention by dispensing information in fact-filled notes; and "Spider," in which a teen wrestler takes the upper hand against a weaker sparring partner. Revealing and yet sometimes brutal, the collection was praised for its accurate portrayal of modern teen boys' sometimes troubled coming of age. "Sharply observed," Lloyd's fiction is "filled with scenes both mundane and shocking that capture those strange, private moments of shame, fear, pride, and creativity," stated Gillian Engberg in Booklist, while a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that the "quiet, sometimes chilling stories remind us of childhood's unique travails." Lloyd proves himself to be "a writer with unique insight into that world," added the Publishers Weekly contributor.