VISIT Judy Ray's website.
VISIT David Ray's blog.
LISTEN to David Ray reading poems, recorded in Chicago in 2008. Studs Terkel has written: "David Ray's poetry has always been radiant even though personal tragedy has suffused it."
(See Publications for complete list.)
About David Ray
David Ray's writings focus on a number of leadings, ranging from lyric poems of love and grief to passionate protest and memoir. His memoir, The Endless Search, is a probing search of his early years, which have been described as "Dickensian, full of abuse and tragedy." To this work he brings the insights of a man who has studied his own history as both clinical and mystical reality, a celebration of survival.
David has won many awards for fiction, poetry, and essays. He is available for readings and workshops, serves as manuscript reader for publishers and as judge of literary contests. His writing has been widely published in anthologies and magazines in addition to his books.
He has been a visiting professor in India, New Zealand and Australia, as well as a teacher of literature and creative writing at American universities and colleges. He now lives in Tucson with his wife, Judy Ray.
Concerns:
David Ray was one of the founders of American Writers Against the Vietnam War in 1966 and co-edited, with Robert Bly, A Poetry Reading Against the Vietnam War, a collection of relevant readings from the classics as well as contemporary sources. Many of these materials have been widely quoted in recent anti-war activities.
Special concerns for workshops, lectures, and thematic readings include Grief, and Writing as Therapy.