born in New York City in 1943 he earned his B.A. in literature from Bard College and went on to study poetry with Robert Lowell and folklore with Alan Dundes. The author of more than 20 chapbooks and volumes of poetry, he has run Gnomon Press since 1965. He currently works as a freelance designer in Kentucky. He has received many design awards, including honors from the American Association of University Presses, the Chicago Book Clinic, the Midwest Book Show, and the Southern Books Competition.

born in Brooklyn, New York, she is, undeniably, the most well  –  known female Beat poet. She attended Swarthmore College, then moved to Greenwich Village to become part of the Bohemian intellectual culture. She is the author of 43 books of poetry and prose. Loba: Books I & II  was published in the Penguin Poets Series in August 1998. Her autobiographical memoir, Recollections of My Life as a Woman, was published by Viking in April 2001. Recent poetry chapbooks include Towers Down (with Clive Matson), published by Eidolon Editions in 2002; The Ones I Used to Laugh With, Habenicht Press, San Francisco, 2003, and TimeBomb, Eidolon Editions 2006. Her work has been translated into over 20 languages. She has received writing grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry from the National Poetry Association, and an honorary doctorate from St. Lawrence University. In 2002, she was one of three finalists to be named the first Poet Laureate of California. She has taught poetry and spirituality courses at New College of California, California College of Arts and Crafts, and the San Francisco Art Institute.  She has lived in San Francisco since 1968 where, in 2009, she was named Poet Laureate.

was born in Beijing, China in 1947 and grew up in Massachusetts. Among her books are The Heat Bird (Burning Deck 1983) and Random Possession, (both recipients of American Book Awards); Empathy (Station Hill, 1989), (PEN West Award); Sphericity (Kelsey Street, 1993); Endocrinology (in collaboration with artist Kiki Smith, winner of the Asian American Literary Award for 1997); Four Year Old Girl (Kelsey Street 1998); and Nest (Kelsey Street, 2003). I Love Artists: New Selected and Poems, was published by the University of California Press in 2006. She lives in New Mexico.

his most recent books include Portrait and Dream: New & Selected Poems; a collection of art writings, For the Ordinary Artist; Not an Exit, with drawings by Léonie Guyer; and another words – and – images collaboration, Repeat After Me, with watercolors by John Zurier. He is Professor Emeritus at the San Francisco Art Institute, a contributing editor (poetry) for artcritical.com, and a corresponding editor for Art in America. He was the Paul Mellon Distinguished Fellow at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture for 2006 and awarded the Goldie for Literature by the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2009.