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| Omar Shapli | interview | excerpts | press release | ||
 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. |
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| Don Burness | |||
 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 the dachshun Yoshi. 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. |