GV6 Poet's Bios - Page 1 of 4

Cheryl Beychok:
A trip to Paris in 1986 inspired me to study sculpture. Since that time I have studied with Don Gale, Terry O'Donnell (El Camino College), Martine Vaugel (1 month course in the Loire Valley) and currently with Robert Cunningham Studio in Culver City. Seeking to capture the poetry of anatomy, in the words of Michaelangelo, "I am still learning." "Blue City" is my first Chapbook based upon my experiences in Cuba. fiatluxor23@adelphia.net

Aleida Rodriguez was born on a kitchen table in Güines, Havana. Her poetry and prose have been published in many literary magazines, textbooks, and anthologies nationwide, including In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction (W.W. Norton, 1996), The Spoon River Poetry Review (whose Editors’ Prize she won in 1996), Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, and The Kenyon Review. She has been a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Brody Arts Fund. She lives in Los Angeles. (Sarabandebooks.org)

Brendan Constantine:

Brendan Constantine’s collection Hyenas 57 was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. His work has appeared in ArtLife, The Cider Press Review, and Abalone Moon, among other journals. He teaches poetry at The Windward School in Los Angeles. (Ploughshares.com)

Catherine Daly:

Catherine Daly lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Ron Burch. Her second book of poetry, Locket, will be published by Tupelo Press (http://tupelopress.org) in 2005. Her first book, DaDaDa, was published by Salt (http://www.saltpublishing.com) in 2003. Both books include a great deal of love poetry.

(Poetic Diversity)

Elena Karina Byrne:
Elena Karina Byrne is a teacher, editor, Poetry Consultant and Moderator for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and former 12 year Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America, and is now Literary Programs Director for The Ruskin Art Club and Museum Of Contemporary Art. A ten-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her many recent publications include, Best American Poetry 2005, Yale Review, Paris Review, APR, Denver Quarterly, Ploughshares, Verse, Tri-Quarterly, and Poetry Daily Anthology. Books include: The Flammable Bird , (Zoo, 2002 /Tupelo); MASQUE (07)and The Fable Language (09) are forthcoming with Tupelo Press. Elena’s work in progress includes Voyeur Hour, an art/poetry book, and a collection of essays entitled, Insignificance (09).

Ekduende@aol.com | Ekduende@cox.net PO Box 3761 Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA 90274

FrancEyE:

FrancEyE, often referred to as “the female Charles Bukowski,” was born Frances Elizabeth Dean in San Rafael, California, on St. Joseph's Day, 1922, but grew up on the East Coast where she began to publish in the 1930s in school newspapers and Scholastic. In 1963, she returned to California, where she has been writing, reading, attending poetry workshops and open mics and publishing here and there ever since. A winner of the Allen J. Freedman Poetry Prize, francEyE is the author of the 1996 poetry collection, Snaggletooth, and the 2004 chapbook, Amber Spider. FrancEyE has read all over Southern California and reads frequently in the bay area where she comes to visit her daughter and grandson.

Askew: "I'm a performance poet recently re-located from Milwaukee, WI. I've been in many musical projects resulting in radio airplay, etc. (Guido's Racecar, F/i, Nancy, The Disciples of Confusion, Crap, Osiris Pickup Truck, and others). I've been featured in several small publications including Hodge Podge Poetry, The Poets Monday Grab Bag, poesia, the TMP Irregular, the Everything About You is Beautiful, etc. As for education, let's just say too many credits and not enough degrees. For me, it's easier to hide behind several different pseudonyms--not out of fear, but because of the slightly different types of expression they engender. I've travelled most of the western U.S. and Europe (sometimes even living off the proceeds of performing poetry). In short, I'm an arrogant asshole with a lot of friends and more talent than I deserve."

Chungmi Kim:

Poet/playwright Chungmi Kim is the author of Chungmi—Selected Poems and Glacier Lily. Her poetry has appeared in many anthologies, journals and newspapers including Making Waves, Between Ourselves, Grand Passion, Surfacing Sadness, Amerasia Journal, KoreAm Journal, Poetry Seattle, on the spoken word CD, “The Verdict and the Violence,” and in a book, Selected Poems by Three Korean-American Poets. She was one of the poets chosen for the Poetry Society of America’s Poetry In Motion LA ’98-’99. She has given numerous readings and performances of her work, including at San Francisco Poetry Festival, KPFK Radio, KCET-TV, Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles Poetry Festival and Library of Congress. For television, her credits include writing and producing “The Koreans In L.A.” and “Poets In Profile” for KCET-TV. As Co-Producer of “Korea: The New Power in the Pacific,” one-hour documentary for KCBS-TV, she received a Certificate of Merit from the Associated Press and an Emmy nomination. Awards she has received include the first place Open Door Writing Award for her screenplay, “The Dandelion,” from the Writers Guild Foundation, West and Grand Prize for her play, “The Comfort Women,” at the 1995 USC One-Act Play Festival. In 1999, her full-length play, “Hanako,” had a world premiere at East West Players in Los Angeles. “Comfort Women” (formerly Hanako) was produced by Urban Stages in New York in October, 2004. It is included in an anthology, “New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2005”, published by Smith and Kraus in May, 2006. Website: http://www.chungmi.com / E-mail: mail@chungmi.com

Dr. Thea Iberall:

Thea Iberall is a scientist, playwright, and published poet. She is also a videographer and magician. She says “writing a poem is a challenge to tell a big story through a little window.” And challenges, Thea definitely likes. She tells stories by finding the essence. She layers them through their dimensions. As a scientist, Thea worked at the University of Southern California doing research in computational neuroscience and human hand function. How can robot hands be made as dextrous as the human hand? How can prosthetic hands be improved to make them functionally equivalent to the real thing? She wrote three textbooks on these topics, and has been invited world-wide to present papers on how the brain controls the hand. As a poet, Thea has had poetry and short fiction published in Rattle, Spillway, Common Lives, Peregrine XVI, ONTHE BUS, and Next... Magazine. She was a semifinalist in the Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition. Thea has given numerous poetry and fiction readings in Southern California and New England. Her chapbook, Be Ye Love (Inevitable Press) is part of the Laguna Poets series. She represented Los Angeles at the 1998 National Poetry Slam Competition in Austin, Texas, where the team came in third place out of 45 cities. As a playwright, Thea's one-act play "When I Was Called Tony" was produced November 2002 at the OUT Theatre in Long Beach, California. Joining forces with her 90-year old mother, her new one-act play "Primed for Love" had a staged reading in September 2003. She has written six other plays including ‘Amacry! The Neuronic Musical’ which had a workshop production at The OUT Theatre in April 2004. As a videographer, Thea's short documentary Feminist Building Project (1999) has screened at film festivals in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

(Thea Iberall's Website)