James Crews is the author of four collections of poetry: The Book of What Stays, Telling My Father, Bluebird, and Every Waking Moment. He is also the editor of the popular Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, The Christian Century, and have been reprinted in Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry and featured on Tracy K. Smith's podcast, The Slowdown.

Crews holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in writing and literature from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He worked with former U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser on his weekly newspaper column, "American Life in Poetry," which reaches millions of readers across the world. He teaches poetry at SUNY-Albany and lives with his husband on an organic farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont.