James Navé Bio

I am a poet, storyteller, manuscript consultant, and producer. I co-founded The Imaginative Storm Writing Project to help writers build the confidence to wrestle with what’s hard, embrace what’s soft, and create work that speaks truth to the world—without flinching.

  • MFA in Writing from Vermont College

  • Founder of The Imaginative Storm Writing Project

  • LEAF Global Arts Poet Laureate and Strategic Advisor 

  • Founding member of Poetry Alive! Theater Company

  • Founded The Artist's Way Creativity Camp with Julia Cameron

  • Board member of WPVMFM-Asheville 

  • I've memorized over 600 poems 

  • I represented Asheville on three National Poetry Slam teams

I am a poet, storyteller, teacher, and manuscript coach with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. With over 600 poems committed to memory, I've performed and taught writing, creativity, and public speaking worldwide, helping people tap into the power of language and imagination.

My latest book, 100 Days: A Poetic Memoir After Cancer (3: A Taos Press, 2023), explores resilience through poetry. I also co-authored How to Read for an Audience and Write What You Don't Know: Ten Steps to Writing with Confidence, Energy, and Flow, both part of The Imaginative Storm series.

Through The Imaginative Storm Writing Project, my collaborator Allegra Huston and I coach writers at all levels, fostering confidence and originality. Our workshops and salons create dynamic spaces for creative breakthroughs, blending spontaneity with craft.

I support global storytelling, performance, and creative education as an advisory board member of LEAF Global Arts, TEDx Asheville, and WPVM-FM Asheville. I've hosted the LEAF Poetry Slam since 1995 and previously directed The Taos Storytelling Festival and The Taos Poetry Festival.

I also host Twice 5 Miles Radio, a podcast exploring creativity, culture, and the arts, airing on WPVM-FM Asheville, KCEI-FM Taos, and streaming on SoundCloud.

My mission is simple: to promote imaginative thinking, inspire bold storytelling, and help writers build the confidence to wrestle with what’s hard, embrace what’s soft, and create work that speaks truth to the world—without flinching, on the page and beyond.

  • An Unusual Poetry Experience

    I once recited a poem titled "Strawberries" by Edwin Morgan to a frazzled ticket agent, which resulted in her upgrading me to first class for my flight from San Francisco to London.

  • Most Influential Lines of Poetry

    "I am a part of all that I have met; / Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough / Gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades / Forever and forever when I move." Ulysses by Tennyson

  • An Odd Sports Highlight

    While in Nouakchott, Mauritania to teach poetry at the American Embassy school, I played basketball with off-duty Marines stationed there. Despite my best efforts, they wore me out in just 10 minutes.

  • My Big Fear

    I’m afraid of heights. I get shaky when I see photographs of mountain climbers dangling 1000 feet above the ground.

  • Mistaken Identity

    Once, on a windy October night, when I was walking down 21st St. between 1st and 2nd Ave. in New York, three teenagers thought I was Sylvester Stallone. They chased me down the sidewalk, yelling, "we'll get you, Rocky, we will get you." I escaped.

  • Greatest Accomplishment

    Lifelong friends who answer the phone when I call.

“James Navé has an uncanny way of placing up a direct, bold, yet compassionate mirror. He asks questions that make me think, transcend my mind in new directions, expands my insight, deepen my perceptions, and encourage me to keep going.”
— Julie Miles