Wesley McNair

Who is Wesley McNair?

Wesley McNair is an American poet, writer, editor, and professor. He has authored nine collections of poetry, most recently, Lovers of the Lost: New and Selected Poems. In addition to his career in poetry, McNair has written three books of prose, including a memoir, The Words I Chose. He has edited several anthologies of Maine writing, and served as guest editor of the 2010 Pushcart Prize Annual.

According to United States Artists, an important theme in McNair’s poetry reveals "the struggles of the economic misfits of northern New England, often with humor and through the use of telling details." McNair writes autobiographical poems that explore the difficulty of family bonds and critique American culture, sometimes mixing the two themes together, as in his long narrative piece “My Brother Running,” in which he links his brother’s fatal heart attack after months of desperate running with the explosion of NASA’s Challenger shuttle.

A New Hampshire native who has lived for many years in Mercer, Maine, McNair earned his undergraduate degree from Keene State College and has earned two degrees from Middlebury College, an MA in English, and an M.Litt. in American literature. He has also studied American literature, art, and history at Dartmouth College, sponsored by a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.