Jon Tribble (1962–2019)

Jon Tribble was an award-winning poet, educator, editor, and publisher who was a mentor to many. Although he lived and worked in Illinois, one of his three books of poetry was about his time growing up in Arkansas. He returned to Arkansas to read as the featured poet at Wednesday Night Poetry in Hot Springs (Garland County) in 2018.

Jon Charles Tribble was born in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on December 3, 1962, to Clifford Ray Tribble and Betty G. Tribble, who were Methodist missionaries. Tribble’s father was a pastor and served as director of Camp Aldersgate. Tribble had one sister, Elisabeth, and one brother, David.

Tribble graduated from Parkview High School and then attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, while also working, from 1981 to 1986. He served one year as the editor of the campus literary journal Equinox and received a BA in English. During the years 1980–1987, he managed two movie theaters—the Heights in Little Rock and the Ciné 6 in Corpus Christi, Texas—and was the assistant manager at three other theaters in Little Rock: the Village (Cinema 150), the Quartet on Asher Ave., and Cinema City in Breckenridge Village. He also had experience working as a maintenance worker, fry cook, dishwasher, data processing clerk, and security guard.

Attending Indiana University in Bloomington from 1987 to 1992, he earned an MA in English literature and an MFA in creative writing. Tribble taught, interned, and filled various roles for the Indiana Review, including associate editor, editor, and business manager.

In Bloomington, he met and married poet and writer Allison Joseph, creating a literary partnership that would last for more than thirty years, until his death. In 1992, he was a lecturer in English literature and composition at University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

In 1994, Tribble and Joseph were hired as professors at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, teaching classes in the English Department in literature, creative writing, and publishing. There, they helped to found the now well-known journal Crab Orchard Review. Tribble served as managing editor for the Crab Orchard Review and did photography for the covers. Beginning in 1998, Tribble was also the series editor of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry, which had published eighty books of poetry at the time of his death. Tribble also worked on Indiana Review and Crazyhorse, as well as Volume 3 in the Glass Lyre Press Aeolian Harp Series.

In 2016, Tribble and Joseph were featured as poets in residence at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. Tribble’s poetry books include Natural State (Glass Lyre Press, 2016), about his childhood in Arkansas; And There Is Many a Good Thing (Salmon Publishing, 2017), about his travels all over the United States and to Egypt with his brother; and God of the Kitchen (Glass Lyre Press, 2018), which explored Tribble’s time working at Kentucky Fried Chicken as a teenager.

Tribble’s poetry appeared in Ploughshares, Poetry magazine, Crazyhorse, Quarterly West, The Jazz Poetry Anthology, Surreal South, Dublin Poetry Review, South Dakota Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Where We Live: Illinois Poets, and elsewhere. Tribble’s awards included the Nazim Hikmet Poetry Award, the Campbell Corner Poetry Prize (Sarah Lawrence College, 2001), a scholarship from the prestigious Sewanee Writers Conference, and a 2003 Artist Fellowship Award in Poetry from the Illinois Arts Council.

Tribble died on October 2, 2019, in Carbondale. His wife said of his work, “His vision is of a world made sane and kind, despite the brutalities of racism and sexism.” His obituary stated, “Though Joseph and Tribble had no children, they both mentored and supported generations of poets and writers in their roles as teachers and editors.”

The Jon Tribble Editors Fellowship, established by his wife and family in his honor in 2022, is presented at the annual Poetry by the Sea conference. Before his death, Tribble led a workshop in editing at the conference, and Joseph has served as a board secretary and advisory board member as well as leading workshops.

For additional information:
Evans, Anna. “2023 Jon Tribble Editors Fellowship Awarded to Kevin Durkin.” Poetry by the Sea Conference. https://poetrybytheseaconference.org/2023-jon-tribble-editors-fellowship-awarded-to-kevin-durkin/ (accessed August 28, 2026).

“In Memoriam: Jon Tribble, Poet, Editor, My Partner.” Allison Joseph Poetry. http://www.allisonjosephpoetry.com/in-memoriam-jon-tribble.html (accessed August 28, 2026).

“Jon Charles Tribble: December 3, 1962—October 2, 2019.” Meredith Funeral Home. https://www.meredithfh.com/obituaries/Jon-Charles-Tribble?obId=7887078#/celebrationWall (accessed August 28, 2026).

“Jon Tribble.” Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jon-tribble (accessed August 28, 2026).

“Jon Tribble 2019.” Poets.org. https://poets.org/poet/jon-tribble (accessed August 28, 2026).

“Jon Tribble Death: Poet and Managing Editor Crab Orchard Review Has Died, Tributes Pour In.” Monsters and Critics. https://www.monstersandcritics.com/celebrity/jon-tribble-death-poet-and-managing-editor-crab-orchard-review-has-died-tributes-pour-in/ (accessed August 28, 2026).

Meyerhofer, Michael. “Featured Poet: Jon Tribble.” https://atticusreview.org/featured-poet-jon-tribble/ (accessed August 28, 2026).

“University of Dubuque: Poet-in-Residence Jon and Allison Tribble.” YouTube, April 19, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKOt4OloyWQ (accessed August 28, 2026). [see Related Web Video in sidebar]

J. Jobe
CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas