Roger Craik, associate professor of English at the Kent State University Ashtabula campus, was recently nominated for the Cleveland Arts Prize.

Established in 1960, the Cleveland Arts Prize recognizes the accomplishments of mid-career fine artists with a connection to Northeast Ohio. Two prizes are awarded each year to artists who have received national, regional or local acclaim for their body of work. The public can nominate artists from the visual arts, music, dance, literature and design fields. It is the oldest award of its kind in the United States.

Craik was nominated for his creative poetry writings as well as for his writing career as a whole. Only seven poets have won the award since its inception.

“I was surprised and pleased I was nominated, because I have only been involved with writing poetry since 2001,” Craik says.

Craik is widely published, having written three books about literature as well as 15 articles. His most recent book, “Those Years,” has had national success and is being translated in Bulgarian. 

“The poems I write are not necessarily autobiographical,” Craik says.  “I think people tend to assume that poetry, more than other forms of writing, has to be about the writer, and it very frequently isn’t.” 

In 1991, Craik was hired as a visiting assistant professor at Kent State. He was tenured as an associate professor in 1999 at the Ashtabula campus.

Craik recently has returned to Northeast Ohio after a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Bulgaria, where he taught poetry and gave readings.

A graduate of Reading University in England, Craik holds a bachelor’s degree of English language and literature. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southampton, England.

The Cleveland Arts Prize will be awarded to two artists on June 26. Each winner receives $2,500.

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