Dawes is very well-known and respected in literary (and academic) circles.Dawes is a mentor of Marlon James's and also works closely on various collaborations with Colin Channer, Chris Abani, etc.Though stylistically different, Bivouac shares themes with Marlon James's Man Booker Prize winning novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings.Dawes's debut novel, She's Gone (Akashic), won a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Best First Novel; Dawes has also won numerous poetry prizes and an Emmy Award for LiveHopeLove.comDawes is the coeditor of the critically-acclaimed African Poetry Book Fund's annual boxsets (published by Akashic)Dawes is the Glenna Luschei editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska, where he is a Chancellor's Professor of English, a faculty member of Cave Canem, and a teacher in the Pacific MFA Program in Oregon. Dawes was elected (in 2018) a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
