About the Author
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Jim Montgomery was born in the late 1950’s with many rich memories of lazy summertime days fishing in small, local lakes and evening adventures playing capture the flag, kick the can, and catching lightning bugs, then watching them walk to his fingertip to fly away and rejoin their sparkle of friends. The other seasons were just as special, with Fall being his favorite - the smell of autumn leaves, the crisp chill that the early morning brings, and sounds of night crickets hiding in the bushes to lullaby him to sleep.
Louise Moss Montgomery was his paternal grandmother from Clarksdale, Mississippi, who was honored with an appointment in 1973 by the governor of the state of Mississippi as Mississippi’s Poet Laureate until her death in 1978. When she would come for weekly visits to Memphis, Jim and “Gran-Louise” would share stories, and he would be rapt while she read her poetry to Jim and his two older brothers.
Maybe it was the genetics of his grandmother, or the fond remembrances of his childhood, or maybe both, but the writing and poetry bug infected him early in life. Finally at the ripe age of his mid-60’s, Jim decided to have one of his poems, The Moonbeams, illustrated and published. To fulfill a writer’s dream, he wanted to share with others a time not too long ago, where fireflies lit up a field at night, frogs and crickets would still sing in the night, and the Moonbeams would dance as they fell from the sky.
A graduate of Montreat College in the mountains of North Carolina and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Jim and his wife Beverly of 35 years still call Memphis their home, with plans to move to a new adventure in WNC.
Up Next! Watch for the release of Jim’s next illustrated poem, The Clockmaker, soon to be released in late 2025.