Poet Bio: James A. Tweedie

James A. Tweedie is a retired Presbyterian pastor who has lived and served in California, Scotland, Utah, Australia, Hawaii, and Washington State.

He fell in love with poetry during his Junior-year high school English class through the influence of an eccentric, yet inspired, student teacher, and has been writing poems ever since. He holds four earned degrees, in Music (BA), Humanities (BA, MA), Divinity (MDiv), and Ministry (DMin), along with a Certificate from the University of Edinburgh, New College, Scotland. For pleasure, he composes and records music, sells his photography at a local gallery, volunteers with a program that provides the only free hot meal program in the county, acts, writes and directs with a local repertory company, edits, designs, and publishes books (to date, 34 titles with Dunecrest Press), hikes and fly-fishes in the High Sierra, and takes walks on the beach with his wife.

With Dunecrest Press he has published six novels, one book of practical theology, a collection of short stories set on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula (the place he now calls home), and three collections of poetry, Crucifix Askew, Sidekicks (a collaborative work with David Campiche featuring poetry and photography of the Pacific Northwest), and Mostly Sonnets. His poetry has been featured in The Lyric, Poetry Salzburg (Austria) Review, California Quarterly, Asses of Parnassus, Lighten Up Online, Better than Starbucks, WestWard Quarterly, Society of Classical Poets, and The Chained Muse. His books are available for purchase on Amazon.com.

His poetry has been featured in The Lyric, Poetry Salzburg (Austria) Review, California Quarterly, Asses of Parnassus, Lighten Up Online, Better than Starbucks, Dwell Time, Light, Deronda Review, The Road Not Taken, Fevers of the Mind, Sparks of Calliope, Dancing Poetry, WestWard Quarterly, Society of Classical Poets, and The Chained Muse. His books are available for purchase on Amazon.com.

His poem “Pneuma” was a Laureate’s Choice in the 2021 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest; his sonnet, “Forever Nine,” was chosen Best Poem in the Summer 2020 edition of The Lyric. He was a First Place winner in the 2022 100 Days of Dante poetry contest and was honored with being chosen as the winner of the 2021 SCP International Poetry Competition. He claims to be an optimist.