David Clewell (February 11, 1955 – February 15, 2020) was an American poet and creative writing instructor at Webster University. From 2010–2012, he served as the Poet Laureate of Missouri.
Life
Clewell was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1955 and attended Highland Park High School, in nearby Highland Park, where he first developed an interest in poetry. He graduated from University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in English. In 1979, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri and earned an M.F.A. in writing from Washington University in St. Louis. In 1985, Clewell began teaching in the English Department at Webster University. A year later, he started the Webster University Visiting Writers Series, which he still coordinated until his death.
As an instructor at Webster University, Clewell taught courses on 19th- and 20th-century literature, as well as poetry workshops and seminars. In 2010, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon noted that Clewell "has a unique perspective on contemporary American life and the characters and ideas that loom large in our recent history."
Clewell is the author of 10 poetry collections and his work has appeared in over 50 journals and magazines, including Harper's, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, The Georgia Review, Ontario Review, New Letters, and Yankee. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry seven times.
He was the poet laureate for the state of Missouri, serving until 2012. He passed the poetic torch to Will Trowbridge.
He lived in Webster Groves, Missouri with his wife Patricia.
Awards
Pollak Poetry Prize for Now We're Getting Somewhere
Lavan Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets
1989 National Poetry Series, for Blessings in Disguise
2017 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts from the Webster Groves (MO) Arts Commission