Mayumi Oda

Mary de Rachewiltz

Barney & Frank Shouldice

Frank Shouldice, who writes on famed publisher Barney Rosset in this issure, was born in Dublin and has worked in all forms of media, including print journalism, television, radio and theater. He was scriptwriter of the award-winning short film in Uncle Robert's Footsteps and has written and directed a number of plays in Dublin, Belfast and Glassgow. His play Journeyman was produced by RTE Radio Drama and a reading of his play Marie Clare recently took place at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York. Frank writes regularly for the national press in Ireland. (photo by Astrid Myers)

Mayumi Oda was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1941. Her paintings are exhibited internationally, and her recent work as an activist includes coordination of the World Court Project, and effort to make nuclear weapons illegal, and helping to establish a women's refuge center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Mayumi currently lives, farms, and swims in Kealakekua, Hawaii.

Mary de Rachewiltz's new book of verse, For The Wrong Reason, is a Iyric tour de force, whose uncanny rhythms and many moods explore a new threshold of synthesis in poetry. Elusive and yet concrete, what she leaves unsaid is haunted by what is said. From love to "little men [who] die like flies," she covers with sensuous intellect and ecstatic nuance a wide range of human emotions. Being the daughter and translator of one of the greatest poets in the twentieth century, Ezra Pound, has not prevented her from becoming a poet in her own right and in her own time. The book is available from Edgewise Press.

Jerome Chapman is a teacher of high school American literature living in Birmingham, Alabama. He also plays in the band, The Mojos. He is a freelance magazine writer and playwright. His other pieces include "Losing the Parody Game", "Scavengers" and "Pitching the Wang Wang Doodle with the Clean Folks."

Valery Oisteanu Valery Oisteanu is a writer and artist born in Russia (1943) and educated in Romania. He adopted Dada and surrealism as a philosophy of art and life. He immigrated to New York City in 1972. He is the author of 10 books of poetry , a book of short fiction and a book of essays in progress.Valery Oisteanu has performed in theaters and clubs in downtown New York specializing in poetry and music where he presents original Dada performances in his "Jazzoetry" style.

Nami Mun was born in Seoul, Korea, grew up in the Bronx and Los Angeles, and moved to Northern California to study English and Creative Writing at UC Berkeley. She's worked as a pretzel vendor, a door-to-door Avon girl, a waitress, a student, a professional photographer, a criminal investigator, and a writer. Her short stories have appeared in Red Rock Review, Fireweed, and Descant.

Stephen Bett has had two books of poetry published--Cruise Control (Ekstasis Editions) and Lucy Kent and other poems (Longspoon Press)--along with a recent chapbook, High Design Refit (Greenboathouse Books); his work has also appeared in over 60 journals in Canada, the U.S., England, Australia, and Finland, as well as in two anthologies, and on radio. A new, full length collection, High-Maintenance, is due out from Ekstasis Editions in 2003. He is a member of the English Department at Langara College in Vancouver, and lives with his wife and two children in Deep Cove.