Texas Commission on the Arts names Dave Parsons Finalist for 2009/2010 Texas State Poet Laureate.

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DAVID M. PARSONS’ collection of poems, Editing Sky, was winner of the Texas Review Poetry Prize and Finalist for the 2000 Violet Crown Book Awards. Parsons holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston, where, he studied with poetry luminaries Edward Hirsch, Stanley Plumly, Richard Howard, Robert Pinsky, and the late Howard Moss. He was the recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Dante Fellowship to the State University of New York (Geneseo) and the French/American Legation Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in journals, such as, Gulf Coast, Louisiana Literature, Descant, Southwestern American Literature, Standpoints: Journal for Teachers of English in France, The Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of Poetry, and The Texas Review.

Parsons is founder of the Montgomery County Literary Arts Council's Writers in Performance Series and is chairman of the Conroe Commission on Arts and Culture. Parsons has four children: Robert Cunningham is the Instructional Science Coach, for Kingwood ISD with a BA in Music from UTA, a Masters in Science Teaching from Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University, and a Master in Educational Leadership from SHSU. Laura Doehrman is the Special Education Diagnostician at Magnolia ISD with a BA in Advertising from SHSU and a Masters in Special Education from Texas A&M University). Dr. Brandy Parsons-Miller is a Clinical Psychologist in Dallas with a BA in English/Psychology from The University of Texas in Austin and Doctor of Clinical Psychology from UT Medical School in Dallas. Allison Paige Parsons is Director of Play Time for Kids and working on her undergraduate degree in Business. His wife Nancy Parsons is an award-winning fine artist and graphic designer. Dave Parsons was named Poet Laureate of Montgomery County 2005 – 2010.

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