Arthur Powers went to Brazil in 1969 and lived most his adult life there. From 1985 to 1997, he and his wife served with the Franciscan Friars and Maryknoll in the Amazon, doing pastoral work and organizing subsistence farmers and rural workers' unions in a region of violent land conflicts. The Powers currently live in Raleigh North Carolina. In 2020, Arthur was ordained a Deacon in the Diocese of Raleigh. He is a certified mediator and, as a member of the North Carolina Bar, represents pro-bono clients and collaborates with Catholic Charities' Immigration Law Program.
Arthur received a Fellowship in Fiction from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, three annual awards for short fiction from the Catholic Press Association, the 2008 Tom Howard Fiction Award (2nd place), the 2012 Tuscany Novella Prize, and the 2014 Catholic Arts & Literature Award. His poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in many magazines & anthologies. He is the author of A Hero For The People: Stories From The Brazilian Backlands (Press 53, 2013), The Book of Jotham (Tuscany Press, 2013), Edgewater (Finishing Line Press, 2015), Sketches/Brazil (Finishing Line Press, 2019), and Padre Raimundo's Army (Wiseblood Books, 2021). He served as Judge of the 2014 - 2016 Tom Howard/John Reid Short Fiction & Essay Contests and of the 2015 Dappled Things J.F. Powers Fiction Contest, serves on the Boards of St. Joseph (Charitable) Primary Care, Share-The-Blessings international development fund, and The Raleigh Review. He teaches fiction classes and workshops, most recently with Catholic Literary Arts (2021-22).