A native of Warren, Mich., a working-class suburb less than a mile from Detroit, Daniel's poetry reflects the physicality of manual labor, the noises and smells of machine shops and factories, the metallic glint of polished steel and iron.His first two poetry collections, Places/Everyone and Punching Out, set in Detroit neighborhoods and factories, have been described as realistic, gritty, and sometimes violent but were praised for their tough, spare style and unsentimental portrayal of working people's lives. His third book, M-80, centers on urban violence and its aftereffects, while his more recent books, Niagara Falls, Blessing this House, and Blue Jesus changed course with their issues of faith. Daniels has edited American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon University Press), Letters to America: Contemporary American Poetry on Race (Wayne State University Press, 1995), and The Carnegie Mellon Anthology of Poetry (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1993). His first collection of short stories, No Pets (Bottom Dog Press, 1999), was made into a feature film by director Tony Bubba. His next book, City Pool, will be out from New Issues Press in 2002.

Educated at Alma College and Bowling Green State University, Daniels is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Carnegie-Mellon University. Places/Everyone, won the Brittingham Prize for Poetry from the University of Wisconsin Press. His awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship and two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on Arts. He has received a Pushcart Prize and was included in Best American Poetry 2000. Jim Daniels lives with his wife, the writer Kristin Kovacic, and their two children, Ramsey and Rosalie, in Pittsburgh.