Jeff Oaks

Jeff Oaks (June 6, 1964 – December 20, 2023) was an American poet and essayist who was a senior lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, and the assistant director of the writing program.

Background Born on June 6, 1964, Oaks was raised in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. According to Oaks, he started writing around age 17. Always fascinated by insects, Oaks originally planned to study entomology in college. However, he soon became bored with his science classes and turned his focus to creative writing. Oaks graduated from Binghamton University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature.

Oaks was a longtime resident of Pittsburgh.

In 2011, Oaks was promoted to senior lecturer and became the assistant director of the University of Pittsburgh writing program. He specialized in teaching creative writing, but he also taught in the composition and literature programs.

Works Writing Oaks was the author of four poetry chapbooks, including Mistakes with Strangers, Shift, The Moon of Books and The Unknown Country. He was also a recipient of three Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships and has published poems in Assaracus, Field, Bloom, Mid-American Review, Zócalo Public Square, and Superstition Review. Oaks' poem Saint Wrench was selected for Best New Poets 2012 by poet Matthew Dickman. and The Things, in 2022.

Oaks' essays appeared in At Length, Kenyon Review Online, and in the anthologies Brief Encounters: A Collection of Contemporary Nonfiction and My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them. In 1999, Oaks was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Death After a long illness, Oaks died on December 20, 2023, aged 59.

Books The Unknown Country, poetry (Brockport, New York: State Street Press, 1994). The Moon of Books, poetry (Lincoln, Nebraska: Ultima Obscura Press, 2000). Shift, poetry (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Seven Kitchens Press, 2010). Mistakes with Strangers, poetry (Lewisburg, PA: Seven Kitchens Press, 2014) Little What, poetry (Lily Poetry Review, 2019) The Things, poetry (Lily Poetry Review, 2022)