John (Jack) Xavier McCarthy was born in South Boston, Massachusetts. At the beginning of his senior year, his mother died in a car accident and in the following spring, his father died suddenly from a heart attack. On the day of his father's funeral, Jack received a scholarship to attend Dartmouth College. He dropped out of school when alcohol intervened in his life. He started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in 1962, stayed sober, and returned to graduate from Dartmouth five years later. He remained an active member of A.A. for the remainder of his life.
Jack began writing poetry in the 1960s and was published in the Boston Sunday Globe. In 1993, his love for poetry reignited in 1993 at The Cantab Lounge in Boston. Later, Jack started the Evergreen Invitational Poetry Slam in Marysville, Washington. He remained active in the poetry community, giving performances through November 2012.
Later in his life, as he battled against cancer, Jack prepared a collection of poetry and short prose pieces called Drunks and Other Poems of Recovery. It was published posthumously by Write Bloody Publishing in 2013. Jack McCarthy died in his sleep of complications from cancer surgery on the morning of January 17, 2013, in Seattle, Washington, with his wife Carol by his side. After his death, the Rauner Special Collections Library of Dartmouth College acquired all of Jack's papers. All The Light is his posthumous collection of found poems and memories of the massively influential force in poetry that was Jack McCarthy.
