The Poetry Kit

Born Southampton, England. Co-founded London's first independent "performance poetry" club, the Hard Edge, 1989-97. Writes politically incorrect, in-yer-face verse, which seeks to entertain rather than obfuscate. Has grown to despise the complacent pomposity of the "issue-hopping" middle-class arts-funding establishment, and now more typically performs in comedy venues. Proudest poetic moment: when audience member Mick Jones (of the Clash) congratulated him after a gig.
Achievements: Author of two pamphlets:" "Oo wants it?!" and "Vic Lambrusco has it large", which sell well after gigs.
1996 - was featured on CD "Misfits" (Volume Records)
Some TV and a lot of radio work, including "Loose Ends" (BBC Radio 4), "The Big Breakfast" (Channel 4), a weekly slot on Greater London Radio in 1998, and a weekly slot (as the "Media Assassin") on London Live in 2000.
Has gigged all over the UK from Plymouth to Edinburgh, plus four short tours of Germany, which took in Hamburg and Berlin.
1999 - was included in "Oral", an anthology of British verse at the end of the millennium.

Miguel Lamiel, whose novel Mercurial Doll was published in 1992, is presently completing two other fiction manuscripts while dealing with an addiction to co-authored poetry on the net. Miguel's poetry and fiction have appeared in Poetic Express, Oracle, Aspiring Writer, Recursive Angel (fall '97) and numerous other websites. He is also the editor of PYROWORDS.

Interests : art, web design, graphics, European cinema, interactive poetry, writing fiction.

Valerie Lawson
3 Bay Drive
Buzzards Bay, MA 02532
508-759-2752
SoShorePoet@aol.com
http://hometown.aol.com/vmuddypond/imagesimagery
Valerie Lawson is co-host of the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. Lawson's poetry has been published in literary journals, anthologies, and e-zines. Her chapbook, Ribbon Anvil, was a finalist for Best Poetry Publication at the 2002 Cambridge Poetry Awards. Lawson was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2003 and winner of Female Spoken Word, Best Narrative Poem, and shared the award for Best Poetry Troupe with Doctor Brown's Traveling Poetry Show at the Cambridge Poetry Awards in 2004.
Lawson has traveled to Sweden, Ireland, and Germany to perform poetry. She is also a participant in Optimal Avenues, a multi-media cultural exchange between Massachusetts and Ireland, celebrating the UN's International Decade for the Culture of Peace. She is a contributor to the Culture of Peace, an exhibit of art and poems currently touring New England, that grew out of the Optimal Avenues exchanges. Her work also appears in Next of Kin, a new show that is currently touring area hospitals and will be shown in Washington DC in 2005.

Twice nominated for Forward Prizes, widely published (on and off line), Emma Lee's poetry collection, "Yellow Torchlight and the Blues" is available from Original Plus. She's also performed her work, most notably at Leicester City Football Club, and has adjudicated competitions. She reviews for The Journal, Sphinx and New Hope International.

Paul Lee

36 Leybury Way, Scraptoft, Leicestershire LE7 9UB

phone: 0116 292 1770

email: teamlee@ntlworld.com

URL: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/teamlee/

Widely published in magazines and anthologies, Paul Lee's poetry collection, "The Light Forecast" is available from Original Plus. He reviews for The Journal and Sphinx on a regular basis and has also reviewed for Stride and Poetry Nottingham.

Born in New York, NY United States.
MA ART Creative Writing, CCNY 1991
NYS Licensed Clinical Social Worker, MSW Columbia 1985
BA Anthropology, Columbia 1983

I write about people, who they are, and their lifestyles ... then I share my observations. I tell it like it is. My style is - in your face reality combined with a unique perspective due to my background. I’m white Jewish and grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan. I come from extremely humble and distressed beginnings combined with a hard lifestyle. Striving for survival, I managed to get into Columbia under the Higher Education Opportunity Program, got my BA there, and later my Masters in social work. This solidified my already instinctual propensity to understand what motivated people.

I have been assistant editor for the New Press Literary Quarterly, producer and host my own cable TV series, Inner Joy. My poetry is published in a variety of literary publications, including, Asheville Poetry Review, New Press Literary Quarterly, Grist on Line (internet), Poetry Magazine of the Lower East Side, and National Library of Poetry. I've been a featured reader at CBGB’s, the Wetlands, and Cornelia Street Cafe. On Long Island, I appeared at Palmer Vineyards and the Paris Cafe. I also appeared on Public Access show, Poetry Central (Long Island), and The Sounds of Poetry on Adelphi Radio at WBAU-FM, in addition to other cable TV shows.

My first length poetry book is being published now by Big Foot Press. I have written a full length screenplay, several shorter plays, and am now working on children's stories.

Paul Lester

c/o Protean Publications, 4 Milton Road,Bentley
Heath,West Midlands B93 8AA
email - versifierlester@yahoo.co.uk

He published his first collection,A FUNNY BRAND OF FREEDOM,in 1975,through the Arts Lab Press.In all he has brought out twenty-seven booklets of poetry as well as two paperback collections,BY THE SCRUFF OF THE NECK (BMI,1995) and GOING FOR BROKE (Protean,2004). After various jobs,including machinist,barman and clerk,he entered further education in the early 1970s,doing an undergraduate dissertation on Birmingham-born poet Roy Fisher.He went on to do a PH.D at the University of Birmingham with the thesis,MYTHS,MONSTERS AND POPULAR SCIENCE.Thereafter he published a number of works on monster lore and legend,on criminology,on "working-class writers",as well as short stories. He has performed and recorded his poetry with a wide variety of musical accompaniment,ranging from reggae,when he worked in the group Lester and the Festers in the late 1970s,to improvised jazz when,in the early 1980s,he released a vinyl e.p.,A BAD DAY AT THE CITY,as by Lester and the Brew.In 2004 there appeared a 23-track CD compilation entitled THE LEGEND OF LESTER,including much of this earlier collaborative work together with more recent experiments with The Loopster using electronic synthesizer. A small selection of his poems can be located on Poemhunter.Com.His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio One and the BBC World Service.

Started to submit her poems to mags in with eleven published in 2001, including Quantum Leap, Poetry Now. Recently published "Candy Cotton Kid and the Faustian Wolf" a new theory written in the form of free verse and notes on the life and suicide of Sylvia Plath, nominated for the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award for Poetry 2002
Has written and published 5 volumes including CANDY COTTON KID AND THE FAUSTIAN WOLF and THE PANJANDRUM OF QUONDAM, and two major collections TLAZOLTEOTL and HELKAPPE. Her latest is in the process of translation for publication in Russian. There is also a CD available. Interests: Writing and reading philosophy, art history, hand embroidery and design, poetry and prose writing and reading. Psychology, anthropology and world travel.

Organisations: The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks
Riding the Meridian
Email: The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks editor@heelstone.com
Riding the Meridian anemone@sprynet.com

Jennifer Ley is editor of the hypertext website The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks and, since May 1999, the e-zine Riding the Meridian. She was the co-founder and first editor of the ezine Perihelion. A writer and an artist, her poetry has appeared in a variety of paper and electronic publications and is archived at the Poetry Cafe. She writes a monthly article on irc poetry chat.
Achievements:
Ms. Ley's former publication on environmental issues won numerous grants and awards and was recommended as a children's resource by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Sharmagne Leland-St. John is a Native American poet, concert performer, lyricist, artist, and film maker. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the poetry e-zine Quill and Parchment.com. Sharmagne spends time between her home in the Hollywood Hills, in Southern California and her fishing lodge on the Stillaguamish River in the Pacific Northwest. She tours the United States, Canada, and England, as a performance poet, either solo or with her band of poets "Poetry in Motion." She has published 2 books of poetry Unsung Songs and Silver Tears and Time and co authored Designing Movies ~ Portrait of a Hollywood Artist, a book on film production design.

Julie Leibrich
PO BOX 2015, Raumati Beach, New Zealand 6450
phone: +64 4 902 2382
fax: +64 4 905 2382

Her first collection, of poetry, The Paper Road , published in 1998 by Steele Roberts, received excellent reviews and a second edition was published in 2001. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines, including The North, Envoi, Poetry New Zealand, Landfall, Kalimat, and The Dalhousie Review, and in many anthologies. She has received awards for her work both in New Zealand and Britain and has received two major grants from Creative New Zealand. She is also a children's writer and has written several non fiction books in her capacity as a research psychologist.
She was a New Zealand Mental Health Commissioner until she retired in 2000 to focus on her creative writing. She is currently working on a second collection of poetry and illustrations.

Mervyn Linford
38 Barringtons, 10 Sutton Road, Southend on Sea, Essex. SS2 5NA.

Website url Mervyn_Linford
He can be contacted via mrsharvey@madasafish.com

Mervyn Linford has been writing poetry for more than three decades. He has won, been runner-up and highly commended in a number of national and local poetry competitions including: The Hastings Open Poetry Competition, The John Clare Cup and The Douglas Gibson Memorial Poetry Competition. His work has been published in numerous magazines and periodicals such as: Acumen, Outposts, Orbis, Staple, Weyfarers, Sol, Smiths Knoll, Seam, Romantic Renaissance, The Poet Tree, A Bard Hair Day, ImageNation, Earth Love, Peace and Freedom, Candelabrum, Iota, Rubies in the Darkness, The Essex Countryside Magazine, PN Review, The London Magazine, The Countryman, The Independent Newspaper, and many more. His work has also been broadcast on both local and national radio. He has been a member of the Southend Poetry Group for over twenty years and regularly gives public readings of his work. Of his four published collections of poetry two are now out of print, the others Autumn Manuscript & The Beatitudes of Silence are available via his website.

Trevor Lockwood
organisation: author.co.uk
61 Gainsborough Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7HS
phone: 01394 273388
website: author.co.uk

About to publish 'author.co.uk 2002' a book and CD-ROm taking the writer through a variety of pathways to reach readers, together with hundreds of links to useful web sites. His e-book 'Grays' can be found here: http://www.author.co.uk/trevor/grays.pdf

Rowena M Love
16 Yorke Road, Troon, Ayrshire KA10 6LB
phone: 01292 316009
website: Rowena M Love

Past President of Ayr Writers' Club and currently on the Committee of Writability (a writing charity that seeks to bring able-bodied and less able-bodied people together through the medium of writing.
She has had many of her poems published in a wide range of poetry publications. Her articles, too, have been commercially published.
As well as writing, Rowena enjoys walking and Scottish Country Dancing. She likes driving and has just passed her Advanced Drivers' Test and joined the IAM.
She is still active in the Ayr Writers' Club and will be workshop leader this session for both poetry and beginning writers. She is happy to be contacted by anyone interested in joining the AWC or who would like more information about Writability.

Rupert Loydell was born in London in 1960. He is the Managing Editor of Stride Publications, Editor of Stride magazine, Reviews Editor of Orbis, Associate Editor of Avocado magazine and a regular contributor of articles and reviews to Tangents magazine. During 2003-2004 he was a Royal Literary Fund Project Fellow, working in Exeter schools, following a RLF Fellowship at Bath University. In 2004-2005 he is a RLF Fellow at Warwick University and Poet in Residence at Sherborne School. He lives in Exeter, Devon with his wife and two daughters. Recent publications include A Conference of Voices, The Museum of Light and Endlessly Divisible, and four collaborative works. He has worked in hundreds of schools and colleges, and run workshops for the Arvon Foundation.

Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen (Rosie Garland)

c/o Commonword, 6 Mount St, Manchester, England M2 5NS
email:     rosie@rosielugosi.com
website:   http://www.rosielugosi.com

Rosie has an eclectic writing and performance history, ranging from singing in 80s Goth band The March Violets, to her current incarnation as Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen, electrifying performer-poet, compere and singer. She has performed at events as diverse as The Cheltenham Literature Festival, Kinkfest and Stockholm Gay Pride.   As well as three solo collections of poetry ('Hell and Eden', 'Coming Out At Night' and 'Creatures of the Night'), her award-winning short stories, poems and essays have been widely anthologised. Her first novel is currently with an agent. She has won both the Erotic Oscar for Performance Artist of the Year and the Diva Award for Solo Performer.

She is also a workshop facilitator with many years' experience, and has worked with adults and young people in areas as diverse as listening and communication, writing, performance and compeering skills.

Read the interview (2000)

Read the poems

Roddy Lumsden's first book Yeah Yeah Yeah (Bloodaxe, 1997) was shortlisted for Forward and Saltire prizes. In 1999, he was "poet-in-residence" to the music industry and co-wrote The Message, a book on poetry and pop music published by the Poetry Society. The Book of Love (Bloodaxe 2000) was PBS Summer Choice and is thus shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. He is a freelance writer and editor, specialising in quizzes and word puzzles.
Poems and sound files and books by Roddy Lumsden are available via www.vitamin-p.co.uk a new website which will be showcasing the work of several well-known British poets.

Andrew Lundwall

email - andrew@poeticinhalation.com
website - www.poeticinhalation.com

Andrew Lundwall is, along with Jeannie Smith, a managing editor/co-founder of the electronic arts + literary journal, Poetic Inhalation. He currently resides in the Washington, DC metro-area.

Lundwall has had work published by or forthcoming with numerous print and electronic literary journals, including Aesthetica, Lost & Found Times, Over the Transom, Big Bridge, Eratio, Shoestring, The Muse Apprentice Guild,
Shampoo, Moria, Deep Cleveland, Sidereality, Retort Magazine, SpaceBreather, Aught, xStream, Ink Magazine, Dream People, Dead Drunk Dublin, Oracular Tree, Blackbox, Score, James River Poetry Review, Zygote in My Coffee,
Subterranean Quarterly, 88, Near South, Picklebird, Miami Sun Post's Mad Love.

Dimitris Lyacos was born in Athens in 1966. His trilogy Poena Damni (Z213: Exit, Nyctivoe, The First Death) has been translated into English, Italian and German and has been performed extensively around Europe and more recently the USA. A sound and sculpture installation of Nyctivoe opened last spring in London and is currently touring Europe.

Read the interview (1998)

Read the poems

Thomas Lynch was born in Detroit in 1948. He took over the funeral home in Milford, Michigan in 1974 where he's been ever since. In 1970 he went to Ireland for the first time, to find his family and read Yeats and Joyce. and now owns the small cottage in West Clare that was the home of his great great grandfather, and which was given as a wedding gift in the 19th century. He spends a portion of each year there.

Who's Who in Poetry

Vic Lambrusco - Miguel Lamiel - Valerie Lawson - Emma Lee - Paul Lee - Joy Leftow - Josef Lesser - Paul Lester - Sandra Lester -

Jennifer Ley - Sharmagne Leland-St. John - Julie Leibrich - Mervyn Linford - Trevor Lockwood -

Rowena M Love - Rupert Loydell - Rosie Lugosi - Roddy Lumsden - Andrew Lundwall

Dimitris Lyacos - Thomas Lynch

Read the interview (2000)

Read the poems

Read the interview (1998)

Read the poems