About James

James Shelley, always an Ohioan, received history degrees from Miami University and Case Western which led to his first professional position as an archivist for the Rockefellers. Since then, he has been an administrator and taught humanities at the college level. Concerned about why so many young men in college falter, he founded an innovative advising program at Lakeland Community College to support at-risk male students, including ex-felons and minorities. His work on college men’s issues has led to numerous interviews and articles in national media, including The Atlantic and National Public Radio.

Always he has written. Early playwriting led to performances of experimental works at Cleveland Public Theatre. His first published short story, The Lion’s Den, earned an Ohio Arts Prize. As a poet, and in his writings on visual art, he promulgates for art which gives rather than takes. In his first novel, The Deep Translucent Pond, the main characters’ poems provide “wormhole” interior glimpses, nudging the characters—usually while reaching for one another—towards magical moments of being.

Shelley resides in Chagrin Falls where is honored to live with Mary Shelley. Communal interests include playing the bagpipes and appreciating the strange spectrum of human experiences it often presents: playing at a wedding one day, at a funeral the next.