Jerry W. Bradley is an American poet and university professor.
Life and work Early years Jerry Bradley was born in Jacksboro, Texas in 1948, the son of Carmon Jackson Bradley, a career U.S. Army veteran, and Beatrice Zella Hale Bradley. He spent his early youth in various military towns, including Munich and Frankfurt, Germany, and Camp Bullis near San Antonio, where his father was range commander. He then moved with his parents and two older siblings to Mineral Wells, Texas, following his father's retirement in 1956.J. Jordan Cannady, "Poet Returns Home to Share Writings", Mineral Wells Index, 11 October 1992: 13A.
Bradley graduated from Mineral Wells High School in 1965 and attended Midwestern University (now Midwestern State University) in Wichita Falls as a member of the Honors Program, graduating with a B.A. in English in 1969. At Midwestern he was student body president (1968–69)Wai-Kun (Midwestern University Yearbook), 1969: 65. editor of the student newspaper, The Wichitan, (1967–68),Wai-Kun, 1968: 58. and a prize-winning intercollegiate debater. He was inducted into Pi Kappa Delta in 1967,Wai-Kun, 1969: 65. the national forensics honor society. After graduation from Midwestern, Bradley enrolled in the graduate English program at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, where he earned his M.A. in 1973 and his Ph.D. in 1975.
Career After receiving his Ph.D., Bradley became an assistant professor at Boston University. In 1976 he joined the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) in Socorro, where he became chair of the Department of Humanities in 1984. At New Mexico Tech, with Professor John Rothfork, he founded New Mexico Humanities Review in 1978 and continued as editor until 1993."Tech's Literary Journal", TECHnology 2:1, Spring, 1989. Bradley has been the poetry editor of Concho River Review since 1999. While in New Mexico, Bradley published his first volume of poetry, Simple Versions of Disaster,"His Poems are Rooted in Everyday Vices, Follies", The Albuquerque Tribune 6 August 1991: C1. which received critical praise in numerous reviews (see Reviews below). Bradley is listed in the Handbook of Texas Online among poets who have "written verse attempting to come to grips with the specific local facts of Texas culture and history."Don B. Graham, "LITERATURE", Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kzl01), accessed 18 October 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
In 1993 Bradley became Dean of Humanities at Indiana University Southeast."Curtis Peters to step down as Humanities Dean, Jerry Bradley Named Successor," The Horizon, Indiana University, SE, 20 April 1993. See also "Jerry Bradley selected as new Dean of Division of Humanities," Notes, Indiana University, SE, no. 34, 23 June 1993. See also Larry Thomas, "New IUS Dean Enjoys Life's Little Ironies", The Tribune, New Albany, Indiana, 10 September 1993: 1. While in Indiana he wrote The Movement: British Poets of the 1950s, a critical study of nine English writers: Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, D. J. Enright, Robert Conquest, John Wain, Elizabeth Jennings, Donald Davie, Thom Gunn, and John Holloway. He has also published academic papers on Wallace Stevens,Jerry Bradley, "Tentative Ideas for Poetry: Rhetorical Theories of Art in Wallace Stevens's 'The Idea of Order at Key West'", CCTE Studies 60, 1995. William Wordsworth,Jerry Bradley, "Romanticism in the 1950s: The Movement's Debt to Wordsworth, CCTE Studies 61, 1996. This essay was the winner of the Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) 1996 British Literature Award. Samuel BeckettJerry Bradley, "Malone Dies", Encyclopedia of Literary Characters (Pasadena: McGill, 1990): 951-52. Also Jerry Bradley, "Molloy", Encyclopedia of Literary Characters (Pasadena: McGill, 1990: 1028-29). Also Jerry Bradley, "The Unnamable," Encyclopedia of Literary Characters (Pasadena: McGill, 1990): 1643-44. Edgar Allan Poe,Jerry Bradley, "Poe's Use of Music in his Fiction," College Conference of Teachers of English Proceedings, 1975. Philip Larkin,Jerry Bradley, "Sexual Irony and the Poetry of Philip Larkin", WHIM, vol. 3, 1985. See also Jerry Bradley, "Philip Larkin", Cyclopedia of World Authors (Pasadena, Salem Press, 1989): 886-89. See also Jerry Bradley, "A Girl in Winter," Cyclopedia of Literary Characters (Pasadena, Magill, 1990). Also Jerry Bradley, "Jill", Cyclopedia of Literary Characters (Pasadena, Magill, 1990). Alan Sillitoe,Jerry Bradley, "Alan Sillitoe," Critical Survey of Short Fiction (Pasadena: Salem Press, 1993). David Wagoner,Jerry Bradley, "The Enforced Luck of Labor: An Interview with David Wagoner", Dark Horse Review 1, 1999. See also Jerry Bradley, "A David Wagoner Bibliography", Dark Horse Review 1, 1999. and others.
Bradley returned to his home state of Texas in 1994 to chair the Department of English at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.Keith Anderson, "WT Professor Divides Time Among Writing, Students, Cats", Amarillo Globe-News, 8 November 2000 (http://amarillo.com/stories/110800/fri_110800-29.shtml). See also "Bradley appointed WT English Head", Canyon News, 17 July 1994: 2. In his first year there he founded the West Texas A&M summer writing program, which continued under his leadership until 2001.Jeff Rhoads "WT opens fourth Annual Summer writing program", Amarillo Globe-News, 3 June 1998 (http://amarillo.com/stories/060398/new_205-3970.002.shtml). See also Liz Everett, "Battle of the Bards is part of the annual WTAMU Summer Writing Program" Amarillo Globe-News, 16 June 1998 (http://amarillo.com/stories/061698/new_138-1183.001.shtml). Also while at West Texas, Bradley became poetry editor of Concho River Review, a bi-annual literary magazine sponsored by the English Department at Angelo State University."Concho River Review", Poet's Market, 22nd edition (Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 2009): 102. See also "Concho River Review" (http://www.angelo.edu/dept/english_modern_languages/concho_river_review.php/). In 1999 Bradley was inducted into the prestigious Texas Institute of Letters."English Prof inducted into prestigious Texas Institute of Letters," Amarillo News-Globe, 11 April 1999: 14D.
In 2001 Bradley became Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Vice-President of Research, and Professor of English at Lamar University in Beaumont. In 2007 he stepped down as dean to write and teach full-time at Lamar. He actively promotes literature by participating in poetry festivals and workshops"November's Writers in Performance Series Features Two Award-Winning Authors," 28 October 2011 (http://www.lonestar.edu/news/18394.htm). See also "Writers in Performance – Jerry Bradley and Jim Sanderson, Lone Star College, Montgomery," ArtsHound, 17 November 2011 (http://www.artshound.com/event/detail/441432869/Writers_in_Performance_Jerry_Bradley_and_Jim_Sanderson ). and was Guest Poet at the 2012 Houston Poetry Fest."Houston Poetry Fest", Houston Chronicle, 7 October 2012: H12. See Also Houston Poetry Fest 2012 Anthology (Houston: Houston Poetry Fest, 2012): 10-13. Bradley's graduate and undergraduate students have won numerous writing awards in the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers annual competition."Two Lamar University English Students Win First-Place Awards", Beaumont Enterprise, 29 September 2012. See Also "English Students Place First in TACWT competition" (http://www.lamar.edu/news-and-events/news/2012/09/english-students-place-first-in-tacwt-competition.html ). The Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association honored Bradley in 2000 by naming the annual prize for the top graduate student in creative writing the Jerry Bradley Award."WT Faculty members attended and presented at the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association annual meeting Feb. 9-12 in Albuquerque, N.M." Amarillo News-Globe, 26 March 2000.
Bradley is active in various professional literary organizations and has served in leadership positions in many of them, including the Texas Institute of Letters (executive council, 2002–2007); the South Central Modern Language Association (chair, regional fiction, 1991; science fiction, 1993; southern literature, 2001; creative writing, 2002; regional poets, 2013); the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers (president, 1995–97),"Playwright, author to speak to writers", Amarillo News-Globe, 13 September 1998 (http://amarillo.com/stories/091398/fea_writer.shtml). the Popular Culture Association (chair, fiction 2004–2012); and Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association (president, 1998–2000 and chair, creative writing, 1992–2018);"Jerry Bradley" (http://www.h-net.org/~swpca/About_us/people.htm). the Conference of College Teachers of English (president, 2009);CCTE Studies 77, 2012: 138. and the Austin Poetry Society (judge, The Orpheus Award, 2007, The President's Award, 2010, and The Neill Megaw Memorial Award, 2012).http://austinpoetrysociety.org/List%20of%20Annual%20Contests.pdf
In addition to Pi Kappa Delta, Bradley is a member of several other honorary societies. He was inducted into Phi Beta Delta, the international honor society for scholars, in 1996 and the international collegiate honor society for students of English, Sigma Tau Delta, in 2003.