David Thacker is a recipient of the Creative Writing Award from the Western Literature Association and a Pushcart Prize Special Mention, and he was selected by Tracy K. Smith for Best New Poets . His poems have appeared in Image , The Kenyon Review , Orion, Ploughshares, Tin House, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from the University of Idaho and his PhD from Florida State University. He teaches at the Ethel Walker School, where he chairs the English Department, runs the Visiting Writer Seminar, and is the Director of Community Partnerships (a relationships-based service program). Some Hard Stars is his first book.