|
Back to Issue 41_42
Back to Front Page |
Issue 41/42 : July - December, 2008 : Volume 11 No 1/2 Contributors' BioAbu Sayeed Obaidullah is the author of two collections of poetry, Shitmrityu O Jaltaranga(1995), Balmikir Mounokathan(1996). He received his master's degree from the university of Dhaka and continued with higher education in Sydney, Australia, where he has be an ESL teacher. Asad Chowdhury is a poet, critic and translator. His first book of poetry, Tabak Deoa Pan, was published in 1975. He was one of the directors of Bangla Academy. Mr. Chowdhury is also known as a TV program producer. He received the Bangla Academy Purosker, the most prestigious literary award of Bangladesh in 1987. Arun Sen is the author of six collections of poetry. He edits a literary magazine, Ritupatra. After graduating from the University of Chittagong, Mr. Sen is now one of the directors of his father's farm. Ashis Das is a poet lives in Bardhaman, India. He is a regular contributor of many poetry journals published from West Bengal. Austin Alexis has published in Barrow Street, The Journal (Ohio State University Press), The Pedestal Magazine, the anthology Off the Cuffs and elsewhere. His chapbook, Lovers and Drag Queens, was recently published by Poets Wear Prada Press. Bob Heman edits CLWN WR. He has contributed to Sentence, Paragraph, Quick Fiction, First Intensity, Caliban, the Prose Poem: An International Journal, Noon: journal of the small poem [Tokyo] and many others. For the last five years, he designed the flyers for the New Year's Day event at Bowery Poetry Club. Bruce Weber is the founder and producer of the Alternative New Year's Day Spoken Word/Performance Extravaganza. He is the author of four books - most recently Poetic Justice (2004, Ikon Press). George Spencer used to paint, sculpt and do collages. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Midwest, Nomad's Choir, Caveat Lector, Rain Tiger, Asinine Poetry, Brownstone Poets Anthology 2008 and Phoenix. He's working on a chapbook, The Obscene Richness of Our Times. Hal Sirowitz, the poet laureate (2001-2004) of Queens, New York, and the recipient of a Frederick Delius Award, the Susan Rose Recording Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a 2003 New York State Foundation of the Arts Fellowship. His book, Mother Said, has been translated into nine languages. Hassanal Abdullah, a Bangladeshi-American poet, is the editor of Shabdaguchha and the author of 16 books including an epic, Nakhatra O Manusar Prochhad (Ananya, 2007), on the universe and life in it. He introduced a new form of sonnets with seven-line stanzas and abcdabc efgdefg rhyming scheme. Kobiter Chhanda (Bangla Academy, 1997), Swatantra Sonnet (Bisaka, 1998), Breath of Bengal (CCC, 2000), Kobitar Jonmodag (Mowla Brothers, 2008), and Biswa Kobitar Koyak Chhatra (Shahito Bikash, 2008) are some of his significant publications. He was the finalist of the Queens Borough Poet Laureate 2007. Jahed Ahmed is the co-moderator of the Mukto-mona online forum. He has contributed to many journals and Papers such as the Daily Star, Bangladesh. He works for the New York state government. JD Rage is a Lower East Side poet greatly influenced by Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac. She also writes novels and paints, and edits Venom Press and Curare Magazine. She was a long time host at ABC No Rio in the past. Laila Ferdous Etu is a young poet of Moulovibazar, Bangladesh. Larissa Shmailo's new chapbook is A Cure for Suicide (Cervena Barva Press 2008), and new poetry CD is Exorcism (SongCrew 2008). She has been published in Barrow Street, Fulcrum, Rattapallax, and Drunken Boat. Larissa translated the Russian Futurist opera Victory over the Sun by A. Kruchenych; a DVD of the original English-language production is part of the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art. Linda Lerner have twelve poetry collections, the most recent, Living In Dangerous Times (Presa Press, 2007) & City Woman (March Street Press, 2006); forthcoming, Something Is Burning In Brooklyn, from Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books in Spring, 2009. Also her new poems have been accepted by the New York Quarterly. Lori Rappaport is a New Yorker who went to LaGuardia High School where she studied art. She was an English minor in college. Madeline Artenberg's poetry appears in many publications, such as Margie, The American Journal of Poetry; Vernacular; and The Absinthe Literary Review. She has received several awards, including semi-finalist in the 2005 contest of Margie. Rogue Scholars published her poetry book, Awakened, in 2006. Mahmudul Haque is a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Dhaka. A painter throughout his whole life, Prof. Haque, was educated in Bangladesh and Japan. He received the Best Painting Award from Tuschiura City, Japan (1982), and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award (1992). Matin Raihan is a poet of the nineties. His first book of poetry, Titas Puran (1996), was published by Bangla Academy. He is now working for the Daily Janakantha. Michael Graves is the author of a chapbook, Outside St. Jude's (REM Press, 1990), which was re-issued as an ebook by Rattapallax, and is the recipient of a grant of from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation in 2004. His first full-length collection of poems is Adam and Cain (Black Buzzard, 2006). Naznin Seamon is a graduate student of English literature at Queens College of CUNY. Adigonta Bistirnoter Dhala (Shabdaguchha Press, 2000) is her first collection of poetry and Prototo Raktato Chitkar (Ananya, 2008) is her first collection of short stories. She is the recipient of the Shabdaguchha Poetry Award 2007. Partha Banerjee is a human rights and media activist with years of grassroots organizing experience. He has published two books and has put together a third manuscript of translated Bangla short stories for which he's looking for a publisher. Partha, originally from Kolkata, now teaches at New York City's Empire State College. Ptr Kozlowski played guitar in the 80's New Wave band Baby Boom and has had poems published in Curare, Hobo Jungle, and Stained Sheets. Rizwanul Islam Rudra is a first year college student in Tangail, Bangladesh. He already published two collections of poetry, Nimognha Sanglap-1 and Nimognha Sanglap-2. Robert Dunn (1949-2008), author of eight collections of poetry, an organizer and the consulting editor of Shabdaguchha, died in a massive heart attack while exercising at his health club. He was the editor of Asbestos, previously he also edited The Medicinal Purposes Literary Review and the founder of Asbestos Arts Group and Poet to Poet. Robert Traboldholds a Ph.D. in Sociology and is a neighborhood community activities. He is involved in various mystical prayer movements and writes contemplative spiritual poetry. He also writes nature poems in the style of Chinese Mountain Poetry and variants on Haiku. Sambhu Rakshit, one of the finest poets of the sixties, is the author of more than 10 volumes. His Selected Poems is widely read. Mr. Rakshit is the editor of Mohaprithibi, the literal meaning of which is the universe. He lives in a village in West Bengal, India. Stanley H. Barkan is the editor/publisher of the Cross-Cultural Review Series of World Literature and Art in Sound, Print, and Motion. From Cross-Cultural Communications, he published more than 300 books of poetry in 52 languages from all over the world. In 1976 and 1978, he represented the United States at the Struga Poetry Evenings in Macedonia, and in 1987, he was one of the ten American editors invited by Teddy Kollek to represent the United States at the Jerusalem International Book Fair. He is the author of 14 poetry collections and to date, his poetry has been translated into 25 languages. In 1996, Stanley received the Poor Richards Award from the Small Press Center "for a quarter century of high quality publishing." Dr. Stephen Stepanchev has inspired several generations of writers who have taken his creative writing classes from 1949 to 1985 at Queens College. As Professor Emeritus of English, he now spends his time writing and reading poems in public places all across the City, and all the more so with his title as the first Poet Laureate of the borough of Queens, an appellation assigned for the period of 1997 through the year 2000. He has published a major critique of American poetry--American Poetry Since 1945, ten collections of poems, and appears regularly in such venues as The New Yorker and Poetry magazines. Tom Obrzut is the editor of Arbella Magazine. He was a coordinator at Proletkult Poetry Circus in both New Jersey and New York City and he has been teaching poetry to both homeless and ill people for 15 years. Tom runs programs for street homeless people in New York City. Yuko Otomo was born in Japan. She is a visual artist & a bilingaul poet/writer(poetry, haiku, art criticism & essays). Her publication includes: The Hand of The poet (Ugly Duckling Presse), Small Poems (also by UDP), Fragile (Sisyphus Press) & Garden (BeeHive Press). |