John liles

Artist in Residence, Spring 2019

Alumni Artist in Residence, Winter 2020

 John Liles is a poet, science writer, and living mammal. His award-winning debut book of poetry, Following the Dog Down, inspired by John’s study of parasitic roundworms, was published in 2017.

During his six-week residency at OSGF, John wrote and researched in the Oak Spring Garden Library, where he left some of his poems.   He said of his time at the foundation, “Being here, and being in this space which such wonderful people and artists, has allowed me to take stock of the kind of relationships I want to have and the kind of people I want to be around.”

John returned to Oak Spring in early 2020 as an alumni resident, where he worked on a series of poems about small biological processes in the natural world.

You can learn more about him here.