Cave Canem is thrilled to announce the appointment of Parneshia Jones as president of the Foundation’s board of directors. Jones’s term began October 1, 2017, and is preceded by that of Jacqueline Jones LaMon, who held the office from October 2015 to late September 2017. Previously, Jones served as board secretary.

Jones’s collaborations with Cave Canem have exemplified enduring support of the organization’s affiliated poets, and allowed for the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize, a second-book award that publishes work of lasting cultural value and literary excellence. Having supported numerous poetry organizations across the globe, Jones recognizes Cave Canem as a “major muscle in the humanity of our literary community,” and an institution that continues to “redefine the arts.”

She is the author of Vessel: Poems (Milkweed Editions, 2015), winner of the Midwest Book Award and an Oprah.com pick for 12 Poetry Books to Savor. In addition to studying creative writing at Chicago State University, earning an MFA from Spalding University, and studying publishing at Yale University, Jones has been honored with the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Margaret Walker Short Story Award, and the Aquarius Press Legacy Award. “The responsibility of the writer” Jones says, “is to write the human in the world. In these times, artists have to show up and be part of bringing us back to our humanity. The writer doesn’t look away.”

A member of the Affrilachian Poets, Jones currently serves as the Poetry Editor and Sales and Community Outreach Manager for Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly Books. She lives in her hometown of Evanston, Illinois, and claims Chicago as her artistic capital city.