CHARLES CANTALUPO
Charles Cantalupo's books include literary criticism – Ngugi wa Thiong'o: Texts and Contexts and The World of Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Africa World Press), A Literary Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes's Masterpiece of Language (Bucknell University Press) and Poetry, Mysticism, and Feminism: from th' nave to the chops (Spectacular Diseases) – poetry – Anima/l Wo/man and Other Spirits (Spectacular Diseases) and The Art of Hope – and poetry in translation: We Have Our Voice: Selected Poetry of Reesom Haile, which is also available on CD (Asmarino.com), and We Invented the Wheel. Cantalupo’s essays and poetry have appeared in numerous journals, and he has given many lectures and poetry readings throughout America, Europe and Africa.* His translations include poetry in Gikuyu, Russian, and Tigrinya. His plays have been produced in America, Cameroon, Puerto Rico and Morocco. In 1994, he directed Ngugi wa Thiong'o: Texts and Contexts, the largest conference ever held on an African writer. He was co-chair of Against All Odds: African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century, a seven-day conference and festival devoted to the presentation and critical discussion of the languages and literatures of all of Africa, held in Asmara, Eritrea, in January, 2000, and he continues as co-director of the initiative. He is a co-author of the historic "Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures." Professor of English, Comparative Literature and African Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, he is married with four children and lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 100 yards north of the grave of Hilda Doolittle (H.D.).
Recent poetry in abacus, about.com, AI Performance, Angel Exhaust (London), apex of the M, Arras, asmarino.com, Brief, BullHead, Drunken Boat, First Intensity, Exquisite Corpse, Intimacy (UK), Left Curve, Light and Dust, Mirage #4 Period(ical), New Virginia Review, Object Permanence (Glasgow), Oasia, Oasis (London), Osiris, Salt Hill, Samizdat, Shearsman (London), Stone Hill, Sulfur, Studia Mystica, Subvoicive Poetry (UK), Talisman, Titanic Operas, The Edgar Allan Poe Review and Via;
essays on poetics in apex of the M, Bayto (London), BullHead, Connect, Samizdat, The African Experience (South Africa), Talisman and Wasi (Blantyre, Malawi); other scholarly essays in Annales Aequatoria, Bestia, Language and Style, Left Curve, MultiCultural Review, New Comparisons, Paintbrush, PN Review, Prose Studies, Restoration and Tamkeng Review;
recent poetry readings at The Africa Centre (London), Alliance Francaise (Asmara, Eritrea), Biblio’s (New York City), Canessa Park Gallery (San Francisco), The Ear Inn (NYC), Kimako Blues People and Weequahic Park Association (Newark, NJ), Malawi Literary Festival (Blantyre), "New Language: Russian and American Poetry Today" Festival (Stephens Institute), People’s Poetry Gathering (NYC), Revolution Books (NYC), Subvoicive (London), SUNY Buffalo Poetics Program, Tel Aviv University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Delaware, University of New Hampshire, University of Richmond, Yale University, University of Asmara, Northwestern University, Bardfest Berks (PA), Parkland Area Library (PA), Bowery Poetry Club (NYC).
Critical commentary on the poetry of Charles Cantalupo
Cantalupo has sifted … deep simplicity into English poetry prophecy. If you want to live in the World of Poetry, this is your text!
` Bob Holman
Proprietor, Bowery Poetry Club
A branch off the modernist tree … Cantalupo can only be described as Joseph Conrad filtered through the prism of Gertrude Stein.
Robert Archambeau
Samizdat
Critical commentary on Charles Cantalupo’s translations of Reesom Haile
Reesom Haile’s spare poetic line in Charles Cantalupo’s translations carries the weight of incisive image, narrative clarity, irony plus a droll humor that speaks even after you finished reading.
Amiri Baraka
Reesom Haile is that rarest of beings, an Eritrean poet made vivid in translation by Charles Cantalupo!
Andrei Codrescu
Exquisite Corpse
Dialogue between African languages is vital. But so is that between African languages and non-African languages. This collaboration between Reesom haile and Charles Cantalupo shows one way in which that beautiful legacy can be shared.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o
SANDRA TURNER-BARNES
South Jersey/Philadelphia area artist, Sandra Turner-Barnes is a national award winning poet, author & vocalist, known across the East Coast as "The Cadillac Lady" because of her amusing poem-song by that title. In 1995, Sandra won the Ebony Magazine Literary Competition for short fiction; and, she felt truly honored to be named "Diva of Poetry" right along with Nikki Giovanni, Sonya Sanchez and Ntosake Shange in 1997 in the City of Philadelphia. In 2000, Sandra won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Competition in Chicago, and was published in the Gwendolyn Brooks Anthology, "WarpLand."
As a performance poet & vocalist, Sandra has appeared across the East Coast with artists such as Jazz Divas Gerri Allen, Shirley Scott and Evelyn Sims; R&B singer, Freddie Jackson, and writer and motivation speaker, Iyanla Vanzant, to name a few. In 2001, Sandra's jazz vocal performance with renowned jazz pianist, Barry Sames, was selected for national airing on BET's "Jazz Discoveries."
Sandra's first book of poetry, "Always A Lady," published for the third time in 1995, sold over 5,000 copies, and is still in demand; her second book, "That Sweet Philly Jazz" published in 1997, is a tribute to jazz and jazz musicians; and, her soon-to-be released book, "Too Much Woman" is a long awaited collection of poetry, prose and passion. A children's book entitled, "Chicken Bone Beach" is near completion; this tale depicts racism through the eyes of a Black child during the days of segregation in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Sandra chose to entitle her first CD, "September Will Never Be The Same" in tribute to the many lives lost last year on September 11, but also in gratitude to the many lives spared by God's Grace, including that of her son-in-law, Enzo. Sandra dedicates the title poem to all the children of this world, and especially those children who will be born as a result of efforts to bring about healing from this tragedy, specifically, her own (soon to be born 911 blessing) granddaughter, "Mia."
"September Will Never Be The Same" features the up and coming jazz quartet, "Mysterious Traveler," four very gifted musicians who provide that jazzy balance that gives Sandra's poems and vocals that added uniqueness that bring joy to the listeners' ears. "Mysterious Traveler" consists of leader, Theo Primas, who co-produced the CD, on Saxophones & flute; co-producer, Raimundo Santos, on keyboards; Bob Turner on bass; and Kenny Adams on drums. All wonderfully executed selections on this fabulous CD are smooth, easy to listen to, extremely entertaining, and destined to put this CD on your "must have" list.
BRIAN J. FOLEY
Brian J. Foley is a writer, law professor and antiwar activist. He has published several editorials in the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News and the Delaware News Journal, and online magazines such as CounterPunch, Antiwar.com, and Z. Five of these have been selected for Yahoo! News Full Coverage. He has published, presented and appeared on radio and TV to discuss international law and the use of force against Afghanistan and Iraq. He was named a Finalist for a 1999-2000 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship in Fiction and Finalist in the 1999 and 2000 New Century Writer Awards for a screenplay.
DAN McGUIRE
Dan Maguire's work has appeared in The Paterson Literary Review, The Schuylkill Valley journal, Big City Lit, the Mad Poets Review, the Philadelphia Inquirer and others.
In May of 2000, he was selected by the editors of The American Poetry Review for a special workshop with the poet Robert Bly. He was awarded first prize for poetry at the Philadelphia Writer's Conference in 2000 and again in 2001. He won second prize for short story in 2002.
RYAN ECKES
Ryan Eckes is a Philadelphia writer whose poems and essays have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Adbusters, Philadelphia City Paper, The Philadelphia Independent, and elsewhere. He has also independently published three chapbooks of poems:As In, Ten Poems for a Dollar, and Great Short Stories of the World. He has done many readings in many places in his short life.
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