Joe Milford Hosts Ron Silliman!

Ron Silliman is one of America's most exciting/ intelligent poet/critics. He has written and edited 31 books to date. For 25 years Silliman wrote a single poem, entitled The Alphabet.(forthcoming this fall from the U. of Alabama) His present poem is entitled Universe. Silliman sees his poetry as being part of a lifework, which he calls Ketjak. Ron Silliman's blog is a culturally significant English-language blog of contemporary poetry and poetics By 2008, the site had logged 1,700,000 visitors. Silliman was born in Pasco WA, and attended San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught at San Francisco State University, the University of California at San Diego, New College of California, Naropa University and Brown University. Silliman is a literary activist who has also been a political organizer, lobbyist, ethnographer and newspaper editor, Ron has received several honors including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Arts Council and the Pew Charitable Trusts. He is a market analyst in the computer industry. After living for 40 years in the Bay area, he now lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and children.