(Nathaniel Tarn, owl)

Nathaniel Tarn is a poet, translator (Neruda, Segalen, etc), essayist, editor (Cape Editions, Cape Goliard, etc) and anthropologist (Highland Maya; sociology of Buddhist Institutions, etc.) whose travels on seven continents and in every state of this Union have strongly influenced his poetry. He has some thirty five publications in these disciplines, among the most recent: Ins and Outs of the Forest Rivers (New Directions, 2008); Selected Poems:1950-2000 (Wesleyan, 2002); Scandals in the House of Birds: Shamans & Priests on Lake Atitlan (Marsilio, 1997); The Embattled Lyric: Essays & Conversations on Poetics and Anthropology (Stanford, 2007). Since 1985, he has lived in the desert North West of Santa Fe, NM where he gardens, runs a modest bird restaurant and curates a vast library. Among his many interests are environmentalism, dance and opera; history, contemporary philosophy, oriental studies; aviation in WW2, a number of infantile collections.


(Joseph Donahue, microphone, podium)

Joseph Donahue was born, like Kerouac before him, in Lowell, Massachusetts. He has lived, among other places, in New York City, Stanford, and Seattle. He lives at present in Durham, North Carolina, where he the Professor of the Practice at Duke University. He is the author of several books of poetry, including World Well Broken, Incidental Eclipse, Terra Lucida and its sequel, Dissolves, all published by Talisman House.