An Egyptian-born, American-raised Korean War veteran,
Omar Shapli dropped out of the University of Chicago after falling in with the theatre folk who eventually founded
Second City (of which he was a working member in the 1960s). He has written, directed, and acted in numerous plays
in Chicago and New York, creating a principal role in Mac Wellman’s Crowbar and, more recently, appearing as Polonius
in Richard Schechner’s production of Hamlet.
While teaching his craft at NYU, CCNY, Williams, Emerson, and Dartmouth,
he has attempted to preserve his sanity by writing poetry, some of which has appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Café Review,
Main Street Rag, New Orleans Review, and Small Pond, to name a few. He is married to the dancer-choreographer Tryntje
Shapli and has three sons.
"I've always through these 40 yearshere and farawaythought Omar Shapli was a serious yet dryly witty poet. I'll not compare him to others who may come to mind; it would not do him justice. He is an originaland of now. I shall now have a drink and toast Omar Shapli: poet." Studs Terkel
Click the link or play the video below to see Omar reading at Papyri Books in North Adams, Massachusetts. To download, right-click the link and choose Save Target As or Save Link As.
Don Burness was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1941. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan (1963) and earned an MA in English from Trinity College (1965) and an MA in French from the University of Iowa (1968). He also studied at the University of Menedez y Pelayo in Santander, Spain; the University of Strasbourg in France; and the University of Coimbra in Portugal. He taught French and Spanish and English and African Literature at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire (1968–2001). In 1982–83, he was visiting professor at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. In 2007–2008, he worked with the Faculty of Letters at the University of Lisobon in Portugal.
He is the author of 20 books of poetry and works on African literature and culture. His books are used in classrooms in various American universities as well as at Kings College, University of London. He is a regular contributer to Odissea, an Italian paper devoted to culture and social commentary (Milan). He is on the editorial board of Okike: An African Journal of New Writing (Nigeria) and Portuguese-Studies Review (Canada). Books of his have been translated into Italian and Portuguese. He is an active member of the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. He lives in New Hampshire and Portugal with his wife Mary-Lou and his dachshunds, Yoshi and Fritz.
His latest book is Brutal Like All Olympic Games, published by twentythreebooks. For copies of this work, send an email to marketing@twentythreebooks.com. $6.00 + 2.95 shipping and handling.
Raymond J. Cummings
Raymond Cummings writes, criticizes, edits, proofreads, and generally would be completely and utterly lost in a world without words. He prefers his consumed/external poetry cryptic, oblique, broken; his fiction stuffed with allusion and foreshadowing; his magazine articles endless. He voted for John Kerry. He'd agitate and activate, if only there were more time and resources at hand. He finds that the third-person wears out its welcome way, way too quickly. He lives in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania with his wife and child.
Christophe Casamassima is a teacher, publisher, book-maker and book-annihilater living in Baltimore with his wife Karen and future children, two of which are cats, the others mere thoughts. Ore completes his Proteus cycle, which includes The Proteus (Moria Books) and Joys: A Catalogue of Disappointments (BlazeVOX).