Highland Park Poetry welcomes all poets - there is no geographic limitation. For more information on how to become a Participating Poet, query info@highlandparkpoetry.org.
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Emma Alexandra, poet, historian, avid walker and hiker, celebrates her immigrant’s journey from Morocco to Chicago’s Humboldt Park Neighborhood in the early 1960’s to Highland Park, Illinois in 2000 with her poetry collection “It’s Long way from Casablanca to the Shores of Highland Park.” She has collaborated with several Highland Park visual artists such as Sumner Garte, Yelena Klairmont, and Howard Jacobs creating poetry for their work and the artists creating visual art for her poetry. She believes that collaboration between visual artist, musician, performance artist, and poet liberates the human mind’s intriguingly complex Musescape. Most recently she has embarked on a photographic journey, documenting Highland Park’s natural environment from its tiniest inhabitants to those of huge, centuries-old proportions, butterflies to trees. She will assemble these images, into collemblages (collage and assemblage), thereby painting Highland Park’s unique land, city, and people scapes. Poetry will accompany her collemblages. She is dedicated to promoting the artistic and practical preservation of the natural environment whose inspiration is essential to creative health.
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Wendy Anderson is a published poet and longtime professional writer who has taught in the graduate journalism school at Northwestern University. Her most recent poetry collection, An Ancient Trail to Home, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014. For five years she has led the Poets Attic writers workshops through the Highland Park Community House. She presents creative writing workshops at the Highland Park and other local libraries. If you are interested in learning more about the Poets Attic writers workshops, contact Wendy Anderson at (847) 432-3271 or email writersattic@comcast.net.
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Susan B. Auld lives in Arlington Heights. Her free verse poetry, haiku and haibun have been published both online and in print journals. She is a member of the Haiku Society of America and the Illinois State Poetry Society. Susan teaches Continuing Education writing classes for Township 214 that encourage new writers and writers who wish to use writing to heal.
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Sherri Lohrum Baker of Belleville, Illinois, is a special procedure technologist who has worked at Memorial Hospital since 1994. Sherri has written poetry intermittently throughout her life “to purge her feelings,” and had pieces published in college, but usually threw her poems away. In recent years, Sherri says, she has experienced much tragedy and finds comfort in her writing that she hopes to share with others. At the insistence of her sister, who also writes poetry, she no longer throws away her poems. Some of her work is also posted online as broadsides.
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Mary Jo Balistreri has two full books of poetry, Joy in the Morning and gathering the harvest (Bellowing Ark Press), and a chapbook, Best Brothers (Tiger's Eye Press). She has recent or forthcoming work in Parabola, Grist, The Hurricane Press, Plainsongs, The Tiger's Eye, Avocet, Crab Creek Review, Quill and Parchment, The Heron's Nest, Acorn, and A Hundred Gourds. Poetrystorehouse has offered videos of two poems. She has six Pushcart nominations, and two Best of the Net. She was a poetry judge for Arizona Writers Association for two years and just recently a judge for Wilda’s blogspot.com. Mary Jo is one of the founders of Grace River Poets, an outreach for women's shelters, churches, and schools. Please visit her at maryjobalistreripoet.com
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Lois Baer Barr - A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Languages and Linguistics, Middlebury College’s Spanish School and the University of Kentucky, Lois is a professor of Spanish at Lake Forest College. Her poems and stories have been published in Persimmon Tree, The Examined Life, Journal of Modern Poetry, Flashquake, Poetica, Phat’itude, East on Central, Ekakshara, The DuPage Review, The New Vilna Review, The Jewish Literary Journal and Mochila. Six anthologies have included her work. She has received Pushcart nominations for poetry and fiction. Her books, articles and reviews on Spanish and Latin American literature, with a special focus on Latin American Jewish Literature, have appeared here and abroad. Her chapbook Biopoesis won Poetica Magazine’s 2013 contest. You can see more about her at https://www.amazon.com/author/loisbaerbarr
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Deerfield resident Herb Berman is a lawyer/labor arbitrator, reader of poems, and sometime-poet. His poems have been published in about 20 literary magazines, and his book of poems will be published in 2014.
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Lorraine Brown lives in Chicago with her husband Greg. She has been writing poetry and short stories since childhood. Her poem Cheaters received 1st place, non-resident in Highland Park Poetry’s 2010 Funny Poetry contest and Looking back at me received 1st place in HPP’s 2011 Rhyme & Time contest. Her poems What my momma said and He won’t eat my soup were included in CRAM 9 and CRAM 10; along with her poem Once in CRAM 11. Lorraine is an actress and voice over talent for television & radio; co-founder of the Chicago Bulls Cheerleaders (The Luv-A-Bulls) and former NFL-Chicago Bears Cheerleader (The Honeybears). She shares some of her interests on her blog, A multi-dimensional life... http://lorrainelorrainelorraine.blogspot.com
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Joseph Kuhn Carey's collection, Postcards From Poland received the Journal of Modern Poetry Book Award and was published by Chicago Poetry Press in early 2014. [Copies available from PostcardsfromPoland.com, ChicagoPoetry.com and Amazon.com]. Postcards from Poland garnered numerous awards and recognition. His newest (as yet unpublished) collection, Back to the Black Forest: A Poetic Journey Through Germany, has already been awarded 1st Place in both the 2016 Amsterdam Book Festival as well as 2016 Northern California Book Festival. He is a Grammy-voting member of The Recording Academy and recipient of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor award for music-related writing (for articles about jazz composer/musicians Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, and Charlie Haden). He's published a chapbook of poetry ("Bulk-Rate") and a book on jazz (Big Noise From Notre Dame: A History of the Collegiate Jazz Festival) and has released two Loose Caboose Band CDs of original children's songs with his brother, Bill ("The Caboose is Loose" and "Mighty Big Broom," the latter garnered two first-round Grammy nominations). He earned his B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a M.S. in Mass Communication from Boston University. He's interviewed bakers for Bakery Magazine, written about jazz and blues artists for Downbeat, JazzTimes, and The Boston Globe. His poems have been selected in the Writer's Digest 7th Annual Poetry Awards Contest & 80th Annual Writing Competition as well as the Evanston Library's 35th Annual Jo-Anne Hirschfield Memorial Poetry Awards. He's been published by East on Central, the Journal of Modern Poetry, Highland Park Poetry and more. When not scribbling entertaining poems, stories and songs on all available scraps of paper to read to his wife and kids over dinner, he runs a multi-state property management business.
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Jill Charles lives in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago and works in a Montessori school office. She performs her poetry at open mic nights at The Heartland Café and the Green Mill in Chicago. Read her jazz age novel Marlene's Piano from Booklocker.com.
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Tricia Marcella Cimera is an obsessed reader and lover of words. Some of her favorite poets include Jane Kenyon, Sharon Olds, Mark Doty, Raymond Carver, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Look for her work (some forthcoming) in these diverse places and elsewhere: the Buddhist Poetry Review, Dead Snakes, Foliate Oak, Fox Adoption Magazine, hedgerow: a journal of small poems, I Am Not A Silent Poet, Jellyfish Whispers, Mad Swirl, Peeking Cat Poetry, Silver Birch Press, Stepping Stones and Yellow Chair Review. She recently read at the Elgin Literary Festival’s Poetry Event. Tricia volunteers locally, believes there’s no place like her own backyard, and has traveled the world (including Graceland). She lives with her husband and family of animals in Illinois/in a town called St. Charles/by a river named Fox.
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Kathy Lohrum Cotton of Anna, Illinois, is a poet and collage artist whose work has been published in literary journals, magazines and anthologies and as posters and greeting cards. Cotton is the author of three poetry collections; including the 2012 illustrated volume, Deluxe Box of Crayons. She supports poets and poetry by editing/designing poetry books and by serving on the board of directors of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies as Encore editor, and the Illinois State Poetry Society as facilitator of the Southern Chapter and ISPS newsletter editor. Samples of her illustrated poetry are available at: www.minddances.yolasite.com
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Ron Daiss belongs to the Community Lake College Literary Arts Society. He often emcees for their events and reads at their Poetry and Little Story Slams. He has been an active member of the Antioch Writers, Lake Villa Poets and the Deerfield Poetry Workshop. His poetry collection, Open Range, is free verse depicting the old American West.
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Gail Denham’s short stories, essays, news articles, poetry and photos have been published in a wide variety of publications nationally and internationally. Denham leads photo and writing workshops at various Pacific Northwest conferences. Her photography is meant to have the meaning of “story”. In all her work, humor plays a big part, plus family closeness. Denham and her husband have four sons and 14 grandchildren, plus a few greats. They live near Sunriver, in Central Oregon where photo opportunities of the great outdoors surround them. Her poem, "Save That Smile" was selected for the 2015 Poetry That Moves Contest. Gail says she is thankful for the outlets for poetry such as Highland Park Poetry. "I take advantage of submissions to this contest, that anthology, on-line possibilities. Especially enjoy the story contests -- those that say "narrative" or "story". Perhaps that's because I began life (almost) as a story teller and most of my previous writing career has been stories. Often I start with the first line, try to figure out a name that fits the idea and I'm off, never imaginging where that poem will lead. The greatest satisfaction is to breathe a big sigh, laugh, or say "ahhhh" at the ending."
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Charlotte Digregorio writes eleven poetic forms, has won forty-one literary awards, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry. Her sixth book, Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, was recently published. She writes papers for academic publications on Japanese poetry. Her poems have been translated into six languages, and her traveling poetry/art show is featured at libraries and corporate centers, among several venues. Her books are sold in forty-two countries, and four have been adopted as supplemental texts and have also been featured selections of book clubs. She has given workshops at writer's conferences throughout the U.S.; has been a writer-in-residence at universities; and has spoken at libraries and chain bookstores. Charlotte hosted a radio poetry program on public broadcasting, and was formerly the Second Vice President of the Haiku Society of America.
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| Photo by Martha Abelson Photography |
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Jennifer Dotson studied acting on the East Coast when the siren song of Chicago's storefront theater scene lured her to the Midwest. Along the way she stumbled into writing, first with plays and later poetry. Her poems have appeared in After Hours, Caravel Literary Journal, DuPage Valley Review, East On Central, Exact Change Only, Poetry Cram/J.O.M.P., Her Mark 2005 and Willow Review. She has poems included in several anthologies including A Midnight Snack, from Poetic License Press. Her debut collection, Clever Gretel, was published by Chicago Poetry Press in April 2013 and is available through www.clevergretel.net or www.amazon.com. She teaches creative writing and memoir through "Library U" at Highland Park Library and leads workshops such as "Performance Skills for Poets," "Poetry for the Apocalypse," and "How-To Poems: From the Functional to the Fantastic." Jennifer is thrilled that what started as a small idea to recognize local poets in the community has grown and bloomed into Highland Park Poetry. She hopes that HPP will continue to flourish and inspire.
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Robert Klein Engler lives in Oak Park, Illinois and sometimes New Orleans. He is the current president of NewTown Writers in Chicago. Many of Robert’s poems and stories are set in the Crescent City. "Justin the Pirate," is available in the Harrington Gay Men's Fiction Quarterly, "Red Beans and Rice," is online at the Drunken Boat, and "The Approach to Pilottown," is at Blithe House Quarterly. His long poem, The Accomplishment of Metaphor and the Necessity of Suffering, set partially in New Orleans, is published by Headwaters Press, Medusa, New York, 2004. He has received an Illinois Arts Council award for his "Three Poems for Kabbalah." Robert's poetry is available for purchase from www.lulu.com - simply search for his name when you visit the Web site.
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Michael Escoubas - Michael began writing poetry for publication in August of 2013. Early in life his mother said, You have a gift for words; I hope you do something with that gift. Michael writes poetry, in part, because of his mother’s encouraging words and because he believes poetry brings people together. Michael has published one chapbook, Light Comes Softly, which is available by contacting the author.
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Edilson Afonso Ferreira - Mr. Ferreira, 73, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than Portuguese, having been published in venues like Right Hand Pointing, The Lake, The Stare’s Nest, The Provo Canyon, Red Wolf Journal, Whispers, Every Day Poems, Indiana Voice Journal, Synesthesia, Algebra of Owls and some others. Ferreira lives in a small town (Formiga (MG) with wife, three sons and a granddaughter and is trying to publish his first Poetry Collection, with about 70 poems, in 2017. Has been recently nominated for The Pushcart Prize by his poem “Eating Pain”.
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Mary Jane Gabrielsen began writing poetry in the winter of 2003, noticing an ice-covered window in the office of their late 50’s Colonial. She lives in Deerfield with her husband, Gary, and two sons, Kevin and Brian. With a B.S. degree in Administration of Parks and Recreation from Eastern Illinois University, and graduate studies at DePaul University, she has a keen interest in the influence nature plays in our daily lives, and a fascination with the interplay of familiar characters and their effects upon our perceptions in a fast-paced landscape of visual commonality. Her work has been published in recent editions of East on Central, A Journal of Arts and Letters. She has been a student member of Poet's Attic, Highland Park, since 2003 and enjoys participating in open mic poetry readings at Highland Park Library.
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Joseph ("Joe") Glaser - Originally educated in Engineering Physics and Mathematics at Cornell, CCNY (BS) and NYU (MS), most of Joe's career was spent in technical business management. In retirement, he dove into Liberal Arts, got an MLA from the University of Chicago, and began writing poetry in 2008. His poems have appeared in The Journal, printed by Northwestern University's OLLI program, the online Front Porch Review, Decades Review, Muses’ Gallery of Highland Park Poetry, the printed Journal of Modern Poetry (JOMP-16, 18, 19, winning best modern poem prize and Pushcart nomination in 2013), Distilled Lives 2 and Distilled Lives 3 anthologies printed by the Illinois State Poetry Society, East on Central print Journal of Arts and Letters. Joe also pursues candid photography, especially when traveling, and his photos have been published in some of the same media as his poems.
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Marne Glaser was raised in the suburbs of NY, and after several rehearsal moves, found herself living in Chicago some 27 years ago and has stayed put ever since. Her training has been in music, psychology, and education, but she was an English major for a few months, and she did win the limerick prize her freshman year of college. Much of her writing falls into the verse and lyrics category, often lighthearted, but occasionally deep. She has been known to include songs of her own writing when she performs with some of Chicago's fine jazz musicians. As a new direction, and a bit of a discipline for her errant ways, she's been trying out haiku of late--the real kind, not 5-7-5. Twice she has participated in HPP's Poetry Pentathlon, plus the bus poem contest, and some Madame ZuZu readings. On the side, she's just finished two years as one of the Directors of the Off-Campus Writers Workshop in Winnetka where she continues to contribute as the Facebook czaress.
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Carol L. Gloor is a retired attorney living in Savanna, Illinois, along the Mississippi River, in the far northwest corner of the state. She has been writing, mostly poetry, for more years than she cares to remember. Her work has been published in many hard copy and online journals, most recently in the online journals Helen Presents and Picaroon Poetry. She has upcoming work in Rust Belt Chicago and DuPage Valley Review. She has been a member of the Chicago poetry collective, Egg Money Poets, for a really long time. Her full length collection of poetry, Falling Back, will be published soon by WordTech LLC. She enjoys looking out the window, staying up late, and reading her poetry to whatever group will listen.
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Gail Goepfert is a poet, amateur photographer, and teacher. Currently, she is an associate editor of RHINO Poetry. A Mind on Pain is her first chapbook—publication Finishing Line Press 2015. She is published in a number of anthologies and journals including Avocet, Off Channel, After Hours, Caesura, Florida English, Jet Fuel Review, and Examined Life Journal and online at Emerge Literary Journal, Ardor Literary Magazine, Room Magazine, and Bolts of Silk. She was a Poet of the Month for YourDailyPoem.com. Two of her poems rode PACE buses as part of our Poetry That Moves contest. She’s been a semi-finalist for Journal of Modern Poetry and Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest, and she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2013 and 2014. She has photographs online at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Olentangy Review, 3Elements Review, and in February 2015, one of her photographs will appear on the cover of Rattle, She received a month-long residency at Lake Forest's Ragdale Foundation in April 2014. She spent time in Brockport, New York, studying Gilgamesh and its implications for the classroom thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Gail was born and raised in the Midwest states of Illinois and Ohio, from near the Piasa Bird along the bluffs of the Mississippi to the eagle-watch waters of the river near the Quad-Cities, from the Glass City, Toledo, Ohio, to a long and present stay in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. You can find her online at gailgoepfert.com.
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Cynthia Hahn has been a Professor of French at Lake Forest College, teaching language, literature, culture, film, translation and creative writing since 1990. Hahn's first poetry chapbook, Outside-In-Sideout, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2010; it gives voice to the process of grieving. She edits the College's yearly foreign language magazine, Collage. She writes poetry in French and English and has published poems in Tusitala, Matrix, The Christian Science Monitor, and on-line for peuplesmonde.org, and inthemist.org. She also has poems in the volumes, La Cendre des mots and Voyages en cancer. She regularly publishes literary translations (poetry and prose), and has translated Tunisian Hédi Bouraoui, Algerian Noureddine Aba, Lebanese authors Evelyne Accad and Ezza Agha Malak, as well as East African writer Abdourahman Waberi. Her published research is in the areas of Franco-Canadian literature, translation studies, and analyses of Lebanese literature and the Tunisian women's movement. Her poetry ranges from haiku as inner landscape to anecdotes associated with caregiving. Cynthia's second volume of bilingual poetry (French-English), Co-ïncidence(s), was published by alfAbarre Press (Paris) in 2014. It is illustrated by Parisian artist Monique Loubet and available in print or as an e-book. This volume meditates on the theme of life as a journey and much of the bird imagery reflects movements of the soul. She presented the book at two Salons du Livre: in Chicago at the Alliance Française and in Gatineau, Quebec in Spring 2015. She plays bass guitar in a local bluegrass and blues band, "Fast and Cheap." Visit Cynthia's web site - www.cynthiathahn.com
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Jacqueline Harris was born and raised in Lake County and currently resides in North Chicago, IL. She is a graduate of Shimer College with a BA in Humanities. She is a writer of poetry and short fiction, as well local spoken word artist. She has published two short stories and is currently working on a poetry CD. Her first collection of poetry is Random Acts of Verse.
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William D. Hicks is a writer who lives in Chicago, Illinois by himself. His poetry has appeared in Outburst Magazine, The Legendary, Horizon Magazine, Breadcrumb Sins, Inwood Indiana Literary Magazine, The Short Humour Site (UK), The Four Cornered Universe, Save the Last Stall for Me and Mosaic. His art appears in The Legendary and as cover art in Anti-Poetry and Sketch.
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Julie Isaacson has lived in Highland Park since 1982, where she also taught Special Education and Early Literacy. Since retiring from North Shore School District 112 in 2013, Julie has enjoyed exploring a variety of passions. She has published works in East on Central and Voices and Visions of Sister Cities. She authored two books, The Angry Chef: Satisfying Recipes Inspired by Unsatisfying Relationships. In addition to writing poetry for Highland Park Poetry, she enjoys writing courses at Lake Forest College and Story Studio in Chicago. While enhancing her craft through her studies, Julie also teaches writing skills to adolescents in her Highland Park home. Another avenue of her interests involves her participation as a storyteller for Short Story Theatre. Julie is grateful for being able to enjoy the best of all worlds, and the new, creative friends she’s met through her endeavors.
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Caroline Johnson has two poetry chapbooks, Where the Street Ends and My Mother’s Artwork, and has published poetry in Uproot, Chicago Tribune, The Quotable, and others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she won 1st place in the Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row 2012 Poetry Contest. A community college English teacher, she is president of Poets and Patrons of Chicago and leads poetry workshops for veterans and other poets. See her blog at http://jupiter-caroline.blogspot.com.
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Edward P. Kaufman, MSW, LCSW, BCD, is the Director of Child & Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. He is in private practice in Chicago and Highland Park, Illinois. Mr. Kaufman has written numerous papers on child and adolescent psychotherapy, psychological development and the emotional aspects of teaching and learning. He has written about films and leads professional study groups on films. He is an editor and contributor to AEmotions and Learning Reconsidered: International Perspectives published by Gardner Press in 1993. Mr. Kaufman is interested in music, scuba diving, photography and poetry.
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Steve Klepetar’s work has appeared worldwide, in such journals as Boston Literary Magazine, Chiron, Deep Water, Expound, Phenomenal Literature, Red River Review, Snakeskin, Voices Israel, Ygdrasil, and many others. Several of his poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize (including one in 2016). Recent collections include My Son Writes a Report on the Warsaw Ghetto and The Li Bo Poems, both from Flutter Press. His collections Family Reunion (Big Table Publishing) and A Landscape in Hell (Flutter Press) are forthcoming in 2017.
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Candace Kubinec lives in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of the Ligonier Valley Writers. Her poems and short stories have appeared in The Loyalhanna Review, Highland Park Poetry Muses' Gallery and Kind over Matter. She is a finalist in the 2015 Poetry That Moves competition.
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Joanna Kurowska Ph.D. is the author of seven critically acclaimed volumes of poetry, Intricacies (2016), Stained Glass (2016), The Butterfly's Choice (2015), Inclusions (2014), The Wall & Beyond (2013), Obok:Near (1999) and Sciana:The Wall (1997). At present an independent scholar, writer, and translator widely published in American and international journals, Joanna taught for many years at American universities such as the University of Chicago and Indiana University (Bloomington). She currently lives in Evanston, Illinois, together with her husband John, son Paul, and cat Rufus.
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Jill Angel Langlois grew up in Park Forest where she began writing short stories at the age of eight and poetry at the age of twelve. Her poems and short stories have appeared in literary magazines, anthologies and newspapers in the Chicagoland area as well as nationally. She holds a B.A. in English & American Literature from Governors State University, University Park, IL. Scattered Petals, her first collection of poetry, explores the healing power of nature. Whiskey Nights, her second collection of poetry, is inspired by both whiskey and music. Excerpts from these collections can be found at www.illinoispoets.org Her poetry and short stories also appear on her blog: http://jillangellanglois.wordpress.com The Writing Life. Jill is currently writing a memoir entitled Tell Me The Story, which is about growing up adopted and reuniting with her birth mother. She lives in Yorkville with her husband, Aaron, her birth mother, Sue, and their three cats.
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Pamela Larson lives in Arlington Heights. Her writing has been published in East on Central, the Daily Herald, the Cram series, Jomp series, bottlerockets haiku journal, and online. She has won several Highland Park Poetry contests and helped coordinate The Exquisite Corpse Project in 2012 and The Chain Gang in 2014. She strongly encourages all participating poets to try their hand at cinepoems for Lights / Action / Poetry when it comes around again. Pam enjoys the art of poetry through classical form as well as part of contemporary mixed media. Being published is great but Pam would rather be consumed by poetry than have her poetry consumed. She enjoys coming to Highland Park because she thinks the community does more than others to encourage and share the arts in everyday venues.
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Michael Latza has been published in several literary journals, including, The Solitary Plover, Red River Review, Willow Review, and Bear River Review. He has also published nonfiction on the Prairie Home Companion website. Michael studied poetry under the late James Liddy, in the fall of 2007, in Milwaukee. Michael was born in Chicago. After a career as a mailman for 25 years, he teaches English, composition, literature, and creative writing at the College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL, where he also edits the creative writing journal, Willow Review. Mr. Latza earned his MA in English from Loyola University of Chicago.
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An award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared in East on Central, Elle, North Shore, and other publications, Carol Spielman Lezak holds a B.A. in fine arts from Boston University and an M.A. in medical librarianship from the University of Michigan. She also studied fine bookbinding under the late William Anthony and is a biographee in Marquis Who's Who in America. Her perspective: While a picture may indeed be worth a thousand words, poets use their love of and skills with language and words to paint their own canvases that can be viewed with the inner eye. Lezak developed an appreciation for the art early on via her mother, whose collection of works by poets as diverse, entertaining, and insightful as Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, and Ogden Nash stirred her daughter's imagination.
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Terry Loncaric is a journalist, poet, and perpetual truth seeker. Her poems have appeared on storefronts, in magazines, and in anthologies. She has lectured on feature writing at Columbia College and Roosevelt University. She contributes entertainment stories to Pioneer Press in the Chicago suburbs. She has won many awards for her feature stories in Indiana and Illinois newspapers. She works as a teaching assistant in the Special Education Department of Hoffman Estates High School. Loncaric loves empowering students with learning disabilities to conquer their fears of writing. Her first chapbook, Crashing in Velvet, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014.
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Marjorie Maddox. Sage Graduate Fellow of Cornell University (MFA) and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Marjorie Maddox has published eleven collections of poetry—including True, False, None of the Above (Poiema Poetry Series); Local News from Someplace Else (Wipf and Stock); Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation, (Yellowglen Prize); and Perpendicular As I; the forthcoming Wives’ Tales (Seven Kitchens Press)—the short story collection What She Was Saying (2017 Fomite), and over 450 stories, essays, and poems in journals and anthologies. Co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (Penn State Press), she also has published two children’s books with several forthcoming. For more information, please see www.marjoriemaddox.com
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William Marr has published 23 volumes of poetry (two in English and the rest in his native Chinese language), 3 books of essays and several books of translations. His most recent published work, Chicago Serenade, is a trilingual (Chinese/English/French) anothology of poems published in Paris this year. His poetry has been translated into more than ten languages and included in over one hundred anthologies. Some of his poems are used in high school and college textbooks in Taiwan, China, England, and Germany. In addition to writing poetry, he has also engaged in translating Western modern poetry into Chinese and has edited several anthologies of Chinese and Taiwanese modern poetry. He is a former president of the Illinois State Poetry Society and has received numerous awards, including three from Taiwan for his poetry and translations. A PhD recipient and a scientific researcher by profession, he has been in recent years pursuing other artistic interests including painting and sculpting and has held several solo as well as group exhibits in the U.S. and China. His Website, The Art World of William Marr (http://feima.yidian.org/) displays some of his important literary and artistic works.
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Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary zines such as Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze, Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Halcyon Days and included in Bright Hills Press, Kind of A Hurricane Press and Poppy Road Review anthologies. She has been nominated four times for Best of the Net.
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Bruce McNutt is a physician who spent 10 years in private practice and the last 22 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is the proud father of 4 grown children and has three grandchildren. He has been married to his hero, his wife Martha for 37 years and has a friend—a beautiful golden retriever Barkley who is his constant companion. His family and friends have provided him with the impetus for his poetry which he began creating after the birth of his first grandchild in 2004. Bruce believes that each of us is a poet and need only free the feelings and emotions that are at the core of our being in order to share that poetry with others.
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Arlyn Miller teaches poetry to young people in the schools and in the community through Poetic License, Inc., an organization which she founded and directs. A poet herself, her poems have been published in journals such as Calyx, Jewish Women's Literary Annual, and Literary Bohemian. Two of her poems are to be published in May 2009 in the on-line journal, Literary Mama. She lives in Glencoe with her husband and three children. Check out her Web site at www.poeticlicenseinc.net.
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Khalid Mukhtar lives in Bolingbrook, a suburb of Chicago, with his wife and four children. He was born and raised in India and immigrated to the US in 1998. He works as a software engineer in Deerfield. He is an avid enthusiast of traditional poetry styles and that is where most of his poems fall. He contributes regularly to his blog at khamuk.com where he solicits feedback from his gradually growing online readership. In addition to poetry, Khalid is an aspiring novelist and has completed two works of fiction drama over the last two years. He is actively seeking to publish them as he carries out research for his third novel.
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Norman Nanstiel grew up in Forest Hills, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and spent his younger years as a nature lover collecting animal tracks, bird feathers, butterflies, pet turtles, snakes, leaves and bugs. In eighth grade he wrote my first poem for English class and has been writing poetry ever since. About his writing, Norman says, "My love of nature has inspired a lot of my poetry but as I grew the issues of life seemed to take precedence and the poets way of thinking deeply about what is before him expanded my view and always brought more complex questions. Subjects of humanity, spirituality, love and place all show up in my poems now but always with a hint of the natural world." Norman's three books of poetry can be accessed from his website www.thisisnorm.com along with some samples of my poetry. He's been a frequent contributor in ChicagoPoetry.com's Cram Poetry Chapbooks. He married while still in high school and has been in love ever since. Pursuing a graphic arts career, Norman and his family moved to Illinois in 1963. He is now a great-grandfather of five and still enjoys writing poetry and camping with all the kids.
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Marilyn Peretti of Glen Ellyn, was delighted to have a poem, Moon Rain, appear on a bus through the Highland Park Poetry program! What fun! She has been writing seriously since she heard a poetry group reading at the Glen Ellyn Library in 1993. Graduate of Purdue University, poetry and writing was far from her mind then, with the major in Child Development-Family Life. She has many poems published in various places including Christian Science Monitor, Kyoto Journal, Prairie Light Review, Fox Cry Review and Journal of Modern Poetry. She has won prizes, and received a nomination for the Pushcart Poetry Prize. Her crane poems have been seen in a California Cancer Society program, and an environmental program in Canada. She has authored: Cranes to Come, Let Wings Take You, To Remember-To Hope, and most recently Lichen-Poems of Nature, the latter two on www.blurb.com. Marilyn's watercolors (and other medium!) are exhibited by the Nature Artists Guild of the Morton Arboretum, Danada Forest Preserve, Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles, DuPage Art League, and other venues. Her art concentrates primarily on nature subjects, and has included pandas and polar bears more recently. Art can be seen on her website www.pagesbyperetti.com A selection of poems can be found at www.perettipoems.wordpress.com
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Patty Dickson Pieczka's second book, Painting the Egret's Echo, won the Library of Poetry Book Award from The Bitter Oleander (2012). Other books are Lacing Through Time (Bellowing Ark Press, 2011) and a chapbook, Word Paintings (Snark, 2002). She won the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest in the Best Sonnet category (2014), first prize in the 2012 Illinois Poetry Society contest as well as the Frances Locke Memorial Award (2010). She graduated in Creative Writing at SIU. Writing has appeared in many journals such as Bluestem, Green Hills Literary Lantern, Versedaily.org, and Willow Review.
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Kenneth Pobo has a new book out from Circling Rivers called Loplop in a Red City. The poems are ekphrastic. Forthcoming in September from Grey Matters Press is his chapbook called Dust And Chrysanthemums. He teaches creative writing and English at Widener University in Pennsylvania.
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Jenene Ravesloot is a member of The Poets’ Club of Chicago, ISPS, and Poets & Patrons. She is also a member of the Omniphonic Trio, a sounds-of-poetry band. She has written four books of poetry. Her poems have been published in the Caravel Literary Arts Journal, The Poetry Storehouse, Connotation Press, Packingtown Review, The Miscreant, After Hours Press, Exact Change Only Press, and other journals.
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Marjorie Rissman comes to Illinois via New York, Michigan and Massachusetts. After a long sabbatical from writing and the death of her sister, she has picked up where she left off. Her poems can be found online at HP Poetry's Muse's Gallery, or in the last three issues of East on Central, and the 2014 ISPS anthology. She participates regularly at HP Poetry's open mic events. The 2014 Poetry Pentathlon was her most ambitious competition. In addition to writing, Marjorie is a Highland Park real estate broker, active in local politics, devoted to her four grandchildren and committed to repairing the world.
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Donna Ritter discovered a fondness for written expression through a high school creative writing class. Since 2006 she has been journaling her insight after morning Bible reading and has progressed to writing poetry, biography and memoir, showcasing God's awesome power, strength and love. Donna lives in Highland Park with her husband and cat. She credits her writing ability to her relationship with God, seeking His wisdom in prayer before she writes every day. Her poems have been published in Highland Park Poetry's Muses' Gallery (Fall 2010) and 2012 Poetry Challenge.
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Tom Roby IV publishes and performs his poetry in Chicago while writing criticism and winning various competitions. He is President and critique leader of The Poets' Club of Chicago and was chair of their annual Helen Schaible Sonnet Contest. He is also a member of the Illinois State Poetry Society and Poetry & Patrons. His poems have appeared in After Hours Press, Exact Change Only, Poetry Fish, Frog Pond, and other poetry journals, as well as, on north suburban PACE buses. He has published a chapbook, Griever's Circuit (Fractal Edge Press, 2004), and two other poetry books—Shape Shifter (The Puddin'head Press, 2008) and Pressure Points (First Flight Books, 2012). His poetry performances are featured on YouTube. In addition, his poems were presented as poetry-theater at the Loop Theater. With The Poets’ Club of Chicago he has developed the Poetry Wheel in which each poet reads explicitly in relation to the previous poem. The Wheel has performed at various poetry venues and fests, including Chicago Public Libraries. He is also part of Omniphonic, a trio that performs poems with sounds-of-poetry. It has hosted the annual Omniphonic Challenge for poetry bands and produced a CD.
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Sue Roupp has relocated with her husband to Wisconsin. Highland Park Poetry is indebted to Sue for her energy and enthusiasm which inspired several of our past programs and contributed so greatly to our growth and spreading the word on the North Shore. Sue is a poet and a teacher who is generous with her gifts. Sue says: "Poetry writing focuses on an intense emotional connection in an economy of words and carried along by the inherent craft and rhythm of each line. This "less is more" style of writing allows the writer to capture the essence of meaning while providing a universal story through metaphor or the give and take of each word bumping or caressing each other as we move through the poem." Sue served as the Guest Judge for our 2015 Poetry That Moves Contest.
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Tania Runyan is the author of the poetry collections Second Sky, A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which was awarded Book of the Year by the Conference on Christianity and Literature in 2007. Her book How to Read a Poem, an instructional guide based on Billy Collins’s “Introduction to Poetry,” was released in 2014. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Atlanta Review, Indiana Review, Willow Springs, Nimrod, and the anthology A Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. She tutors high school students, writes for the Good Letters blog, and edits for Every Day Poems and Relief.
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Nancy Ann Schaefer (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, UK) is a retired academic who recently relocated to rural Maine. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, and Web sites; a few have won awards. In Search of Lode, her first chapbook, was published by 918studio (2012). Her poem “Glad grace” was selected for display in two Chicago suburban libraries as part of National Poetry Month (2014), and “Ahimsa” has been chosen as the June entry (2015) in the Poetry That Moves Contest by Highland Park Poetry. Nancy lives with her husband, dog and three cats and is now revising her next poetry collection. In her spare time she volunteers to drive puppies (from kill shelters) to Lewiston, in central Maine, where they stay/are fostered until their ‘forever homes’ are found. Thanks for taking a look.
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Jason Shimberg has been writing and reading poetry since his introduction at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado with his first poetry performance at the Penny Lane Coffee House. His influences are the works of Jim Morrison and the surreal times of 'The Beat Generation.' Jason tries to feel the pulse of his current generation, while not forgetting the past and says: “The great thing about writing is there is an eraser.” This makes it a flexible pursuit. “Yoga is to my body as writing is to my mind-it’s a healthy form of expression.” He believes that the power of poetry has planted the seed in which great songs are born. The poet is a surveyor who inspects the lay of the land before the house is built. As we are a dying breed, every community needs a poet. He has backpacked throughout Costa Rica, Colorado, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Appalachian Trail. Jason is a professional free-lance sports writer primarily with Journal & Topics Newspapers. He has written for various outlets including the Chicago Sun-Times. Jason published a memoir/poetry book in 2010 titled, Sum Lucid. He followed that up in 2012 with a poetry collection, Sum Lucid Beats. Sum Lucid is available at the HP Library and for purchase at the Book Bin in Northbrook. Both titles are available on Amazon.com, Lulu.com and BarnesandNoble.com as well as on Nook and Kindle.
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Kenny Sommer graduated from Highland Park High School with the class of 1992. He earned a BA in Mass Media and Political Science from DePaul University. In addition to his love of music, art, and poetry, Kenny is a tennis coach. Kenny is a studio drummer, also plays the guitar, bass, a little piano, and sings. He has 50 plus songs available, at cdbaby.com, Itunes, Amazon. Kenny has been published in East On Central in 2005, 2007, and 2008. He has just released a new CD titled “Digital World”
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Tamara Tabel is a copywriter and marketer, and president of Napping Cat Communications. Tamara has a BA in Journalism/Advertising and is a graduate of the Great Books Program, University of Chicago. She is Chair of the Barrington Writers Workshop, serves on the Barrington Cultural Commission and is a founding Board Member of the Barrington Cultural Arts Center. She writes poetry and fiction, and is at work on an historical novel. Her poem “Tulip” appears in the anthology A Midnight Snack, by Poetic License Press. Her poems "I am writer" and "The Word Worshippers" appear in the Northwest Cultural Council Poet and Artist Chapbook
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Judith MK Tepfer was born at the age of 50, before which she had one middle initial and neither the ability nor the inclination to write creatively. Her late-in-life muse directed her to other writers and visual artists and the eventual founding of East On Central, a Journal of Arts and Letters from Highland Park, Illinois. Editor-In-Chief of East On Central, poet, and freelance editor, Judith's writing can be found in Poetica Magazine, Journal of Modern Poetry, Collage (Lake Forest College) and the online publication, Pirene's Fountain (www.pirenesfountain.com).
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Judith Tullis lives in Indian Head Park with her husband, Lee. She is Treasurer of the Illinois State Poetry Society and a member of Poets & Patrons of Chicago. Her poems are published in Distilled Lives: 20th Anniversary Anthology, the DuPage Valley Review, Seeding the Snow and several internet sites.
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Sylvia Riojas Vaughn is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She has been selected as a Houston Poetry Fest Juried Poet three times. She belongs to the Dallas Poets Community. Her work appears in The Arachneed Journal, Red River Review, Triadæ, HOUSEBOAT, Diálogo, Desde Hong Kong: Poets in conversation with Octavio Paz, Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems (Dos Gatos Press, 2016), and anthologies and journals in the U.S. and abroad.
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Curt Vevang is a Chicago native and a product of Chicago Public Schools and the University of Illinois. He and his bride of over 50 years reside in Palatine. Curt has recently published his first full length poetry book, A Scant Bagatelle. He has also published two rhyming children's books illustrated by 6th grade students. His books are available at Amazon or can be downloaded for free at his website, www.curtvevang.com Curt's poetry has been published in anthologies, poetry magazines, newspapers, newsletters and various poetry websites. Along the way his poems have won honors from the Illinois State Poetry Society, Poets and Patrons and the Journal of Modern Poetry. Many would-be poets say they are encouraged to write poetry by their friends. His friends encourage him not to.
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Sylvia Riojas Vaughn's poems appear in Beechwood Review: Issue 2, and are forthcoming in Literature Today (Volume 5), and Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems (Dos Gatos Press). A Pushcart nominee, she has been selected a Houston Poetry Fest Juried Poet three times. She belongs to Dallas Poets Community
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William Vollrath recently retired and relocated to beautiful and historic Charlottesville, Virginia where he has finally found time to focus on writing, after varied experiences as a grave digger, ad salesman, college English instructor, real estate appraiser, bartender, political activist, stock broker, substitute teacher, volunteer, father and husband. He hopes that sharing his varied experiences, perceptions, frustrations and joys will be both good therapy for himself and may even provide some moments of lasting illumination for others. His poetry has won numerous awards and been published in a variety of journals, anthologies, e-zines and web sites.
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Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. Her poem 'A Rose For Gaza' was shortlisted for the Theatre Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competition 2014. This and many other poems, have been published in recent anthologies including - Stacey Savage’s ‘We Are Poetry, an Anthology of Love poems’; Community Arts Ink’s ‘Reclaiming Our Voices’; Vagabond Press’s, ‘The Border Crossed Us’; ‘Degenerates - Voices For Peace’, ‘Civilised Beasts’ and ‘Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones’ from Weasel Press; ‘Alice In Wonderland’ by Silver Birch Press, and many rather excellent on line and print journals.
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