James E. Stephenson, Author
James E. Stephenson’s debut collection of poetry, Something About a House on a Lake, was inspired by the loss in a house explosion 20 years ago of a beloved family home on Lake Rabun, Georgia. With his poetry, Stephenson strives to write poems that feel approachable to readers. “I want readers to feel the unique, vivid life of a place,” he says. “That can be as specific as a particular patch of mayflies in a particular riverbed, and it can be zoomed out to include the way we disturb the natural landscape we inhabit. There’s awe to be experienced in all of it.”
The collection includes original artwork by painters who are friends of his, along with selections from Stephenson’s personal art collection. “Among the many cherished objects we lost were several paintings by Libby Mathews and Jake Fernandez, who had become good friends during our time in that lake house,” he says. “The works featured in the book support and visually amplify the portrait of life in our lake house that poem presents.”
Western North Carolina has been a part of Stephenson’s life for 50 years, and he now lives in Highlands. He has begun sharing his poetry on Substack. “The poems are explorations of and reflections on the deeper significance of little moments, moments we often pass quickly over, moments that can reveal deep and clear connections with the most important and meaningful aspects of our relationships with each other and with our environment,” Stephenson says.
Something About a House on a Lake, August 2026, poetry, paperback $22, eBook $9.99, by James E. Stephenson, and published by Black Olive Press, Philadelphia, PA. Learn more at James-Stephenson.com.
