David Lee is a performer, pig farmer and Utah’s first Poet Laureate. Dave has published a dozen books of poetry, most recently “News from Down to the Café,” and received National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships. He was named Utah’s first Poet Laureate in 1997, and received a lifetime achievement award from the state. He has just retired as chair of the Department of Language and Literature at Southern Utah University.

    Born in 1944 in Lubbock, Texas, David Lee’s background is colorful and diverse. He has studied for the ministry, was a boxer and a decorated Army veteran, played semi-professional baseball as the only white player for the Negro League Post Texas Blue Stars. He’s raised hogs and worked as a laborer.

    Dave's poems range from hilarious narratives to profound examinations of our relationship with the natural world. His presentation skills are so polished and unique that no poet who has ever heard him read will follow Dave in a recital.

    David's newest book of poetic meditations on Utah's scenic wonders, So Quietly the Earth, was published in the spring of 2004.