James Rioux performs his poetry accompanied
by musicians Cynthia Chatis and Larry Simon. Photo by Andrew Howe.

James Rioux was born into a large extended family of French Canadians in Nashua, New Hampshire. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, he received an MFA in poetry from Georgia State University, where he was awarded the Gerard Manly Hopkins Prize for graduate creative writing. He lives with his wife Amanda and dog Teddy in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Poems in Fistfuls of the Invisible have been published in Agenda, Ars Interpres, Crying Sky: Poetry and Conservation, Five Points, The North American Review, Prairie Schooner and The Valparaiso Review. The Fistfuls of the Invisible chapbook from Penhallow Press is Rioux's first book publication.