Biography

Profile - J Coggin

John Dos Passos Coggin was born in Annapolis, MD and currently lives in Northern Virginia. He is a writer, artist, and environmental advocate. He has worked in clean energy and climate communications in the Chesapeake Bay region for fifteen years.

He writes nonfiction and fiction. He has published many articles on film, music, books, politics, and public policy. His poetry has appeared in Aurora, Zenda, The Blue Mountain Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, and Pangyrus. His nonfiction has appeared in The American Scholar, Climate.gov, The Baltimore Sun, and The Tampa Bay Times. In 2012, he published his first book, Walkin’ Lawton, an authorized biography of Florida governor and U.S. senator Lawton Chiles. He also writes feature film screenplays.

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His environmental career began in 2003, when he interned for the Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., who was a fine statesman, environmental champion, mentor, and friend.  Afterward, he worked for League of Conservation Voters, the Environmental Finance Center at University of Maryland, David Gardiner and Associates, Astrum Solar, and the Richmond Region Energy Alliance. He also worked as a clean energy communications contractor at U.S. Dept. of Energy and NOAA.

He is the maternal grandson of renowned American author John Dos Passos. With his family, he curates the John Dos Passos literary estate. He is committed to preserving the Dos Passos legacy of art, writing, and human rights advocacy. He serves on the advisory board of the John Dos Passos Society.

He wrote the text for the official John Dos Passos website at www.johndospassos.com and he currently maintains the site. His commentary appears in the 2015 Spanish documentary, Robles, Duel in the Sun. The documentary concerns John Dos Passos’ role in reporting on the Spanish Civil War and his friendship with Spanish translator José Robles.

John Dos Passos Coggin is the paternal grandson of Rodney Marshall Coggin, who was a Marine aviator as well as a newspaper owner and editor in Virginia’s Northern Neck. He wrote biographical poems about Marshall Coggin for Cathexis Northwest Press and Pangyrus