John Lee Clark

John Lee Clark is a DeafBlind poet, essayist, and independent scholar from Minnesota. His chapbook of poems, Suddenly Slow, appeared in 2008. He has edited two anthologies, Deaf American Poetry (Gallaudet University Press, 2009) and Deaf Lit Extravaganza (Handtype Press, 2013). His latest book is a collection of essays called Where I Stand: On the Signing Community and My DeafBlind Experience (Handtype Press, 2014).

Clark was a featured writer at the Deaf Way II International Cultural Arts Festival, and has won grants and fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, VSA Minnesota, the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund, Intermedia Arts Center, and The Loft Literary Center. He was a finalist for the 2016 Split This Rock Freedom Plow Award for Poetry and Activism. His work is included in the anthologies Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability, Deaf American Prose, St. Paul Almanac, and The Nodin Anthology of Poetry.

Clark lives in Hopkins, Minnesota with his wife, the artist Adrean Clark, and their three boys. He works for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development as a Braille and Protactile instructor.