About John McCluskey

John McCluskey is an author and photographer currently living in Connecticut. John has been widely published in numerous literary journals and anthologies in the US, India, and Australia. John’s poem “My Gray Child” details a father’s shared experience of losing a child to miscarriage and was included in the anthology Cradle Songs: An Anthology of Poems on Motherhood (2013 International Book Award winner, one of 4 finalists for the NIEA (National Indie Excellence Awards), and requested by the Boston Public Library for its private and public collections). “My Gray Child” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and read at a poetry reading in Taos, New Mexico by actor/screenwriter Tony Huston. The poem is also included in John’s poetry/short story collection I Will Listen If You Tell Me Who I Am, published in 2019.

John’s novels A Moment of Fireflies, released in 2017, and Ogden’s Proverb, released in 2022, explore themes of loss, alcoholism and abuse, the impacts on subsequent generations, and an overall sense of arrival and understanding that can accompany such tragedies. Ogden’s Proverb, in particular, explores these themes through a teen-aged narrator’s selected use of comic, self-deprecating humor as a way of gaining understanding. Both novels can be considered historical fiction and are appropriate for adults and older teen readers. John’s three works are all published by New Plains Press.

John’s photography has been exhibited in London, Vermont, and Minnesota. His photography has been widely published in worldwide print and online journals, including the cover of the literary journal New Plains Review, University of Central Oklahoma, in 2016. Selected photography can be viewed on John’s instagram account - j_e_mccluskey.

John is listed in the Poets & Writers Directory.

“I am an author, avid reader, husband, and father of two grown children, and currently live in Connecticut. I was born in Chicago and grew up there - the Midwest being a wonderful place to experience early childhood - then moved to Connecticut at nine years old when the family relocated due to my father's job. We lived there until I went to college in Los Angeles where I met my wife. I worked in the IT industry in LA, New York City and Connecticut (returning after many years) and am now retired and devote full time to writing and photography. I write mostly about family dynamics and have done so over many years. My photography centers mostly around New York City, New Orleans and New England.

I like to read the classics, and often reread them. My favorite authors are James Agee, Eugene O'Neill, Zora Neale Hurston, Emily Dickinson, James Baldwin, Elizabeth Bishop, Grace Paley, Djuna Barnes, Tennessee Williams, J D Salinger, and really a host of others. I know this list sounds terribly pretentious, but I learned a lot about writing from reading these authors over the years, so they're near and dear to me. And I am fascinated with how well their truths hold up as time marches on.”