David Mason is the author of numerous books of poetry, most recently Sea Salt and Davey McGravy; a memoir, News from the Village; and a verse novel, Ludlow. A former Fulbright fellow to Greece, he lives in Colorado and Oregon and teaches at Colorado College.

"What makes this grand work of criticism is Mason’s own voice . . . Mason reveals a glorious passion for literature, as well as an almost Whitmanesque openness to the ideas and emotions that inspire creative acts at all levels." —Library Journal (starred review)

"A combination of penetrating considerations of renowned and out-of-fashion poets and keen appreciations of the interplay of landscape and culture . . . Clearly, reading (and writing) is a form of travel and transcendence for the author, who conveys this feeling in erudite, often intoxicating language . . . Attached to the notion that all places are stories and all stories places, Mason . . . draws an illuminating literary cartography with many fascinating ports of call.”—Kirkus Reviews

"Mason expertly weaves the stories of great writers and places both ancient and new together into an imaginative literary odyssey . . . Throughout, Mason reminds the reader that travel writing should not be reduced to a lesser genre, and, from Herodotus to W.H. Auden, has been an important literary tradition that enables us to explore the world through reading. This special collection leaves readers with a sense of wanderlust and a refreshing new lens through which to view literature and travel."—Publishers Weekly

"Voices, Places is a collection​ of essays on travelling and writing, and in every one of them his sentences sing." —The Australian

"Mason finds poetry while exploring the world."—The American Scholar

"Thoughtful and thought-provoking, engaged and engaging."—Midwest Book Review