A Conversation with Belo Cipriani

Belo M. Cipriani is a writer, performer and motivational speaker. He has an extraordinary story that he details in his recent memoir, BLIND. After an attack, he lost his eyesight at the age of twenty-six and had to learn how to live like a blind person. Belo writes non-fiction and short fiction across several genres. To write and edit, he uses the help of adaptive technology––a talking computer that runs a screen reader called JAWS and a talking dictionary device called Franklin. Belo was born in Guatemala City but relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of seven. He holds a Masters Degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Notre Dame de Namur University and has recently been awarded a writing residency at the prestigious Yaddo artist’s community in NY state. He's also a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing 2012. Belo is heavily involved with the San Francisco literary community, Litquake, LAMBDA, The California Writers Club, and a contributing writer for Bay Area publications. He has been a keynote speaker at GLBT, disability, and literary organizations around the country.