Night Angler won the 2018 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets.
Night Angler is the second book by Geffrey Davis, whose previous book, Revising the Storm (BOA, 2014), won the A. Poulin, Jr. Prize and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Davis has also won the Dogwood First Prize in Poetry, the Wabash Prize for Poetry, and the Leonard Steinberg Memorial/Academy of American Poets Prize.
Davis has received fellowships from Bread Loaf, Cave Canem, and the Vermont Studio Center.
Revising the Storm presents a fresh perspective on fatherhood and masculinity, embracing tenderness and self-doubt as essential aspects of a man's identity. By coming to terms with his own complicated relationship with his father, the speaker is able to find a new way to parent his son. Davis's poems will hold a particular appeal for parents, especially fathers affected by the drug/crack epidemic of the '80s and '90s.
Both the Black Lives Matter movement and fly-fishing feature heavily in Davis's work, offering a rare cross-over appeal for readers interested in racial justice and those interested in outdoors recreational activities.
Davis has strong regional ties to the Pacific Northwest, in particular the Greater Seattle Area, in addition to his current hometown in Fayetteville, AR.
