James Matthew Wilson, one of America’s foremost living Catholic poets, reads from his latest collection, Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds (Word on Fire, 2024). Dana Gioia calls Wilson “the most conspicuously talented young poet-critic in American Catholic letters.”
Joining James Matthew Wilson is emerging poet Michael Yost, a Thomas More College alumnus who serves as Admissions Director for the College. Michael recently completed his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing under Professor Wilson’s guidance. He reads from his Master’s Thesis collection, “The Death of Odysseus & Other Poems.”
James Matthew Wilson is the Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature and the founding director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas. The author of fourteen books, his most recent collection of poems is Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds (Word on Fire, 2024). The Strangeness of the Good (2020), won the poetry book of the year award from the Catholic Media Awards. The Dallas Institute of Humanities awarded him the Hiett Prize in 2017; Memoria College gave him the Parnassus Prize in 2022; and the Conference on Christianity and Literature twice gave him the Lionel Basney Award. In addition to his role at the University of Saint Thomas, he serves as poet-in-residence of the Benedict XVI Institute, scholar-in-residence of Aquinas College, editor of Colosseum Books, and poetry editor of Modern Age magazine.
A native of New England, Michael Yost graduated from Thomas More College in the class of 2018. He received his degree as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of St. Thomas in Houston Texas, where he studied under James Matthew Wilson, and wrote his thesis under the guidance of the poet and critic Timothy Steele. Mr. Yost’s poems and essays have appeared online in various places, including First Things, Dappled Things, and The University Bookman. You can also find Mr. Yost’s work on his Substack, The Weight of Form. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and four children.
