James Jay

James Jay has worked as a bartender, a wild land firefighter, book seller, surveyor, and furniture mover. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona where he has taught poetry at the jail, the public schools, Northern Arizona University, and given Irish Literature lectures at Northern Arizona Celtic Festival. For nine years, he wrote the Bartender Wisdom bi-monthly column in Flag Live. He owns a bar, Uptown Pubhouse, with his wife, the musician Alyson Jay, and they have two sons, Wilson and Henry. They have two dogs, Emma and Jack (a boxer mutt and a coyote mix from parts unknown).

When not writing, working at the bar, and running with the kids and dogs, James Jay plays the ancient Irish game of hurling as a half-forward for the Flagstaff Mountain Hounds.

Recently, he received the Copper Quill Award. His third collection of poems, Barman, will be published by Gorksy Press in May of 2019.