RON OFFEN

Ron Offen has lived most of his life in the Chicago area. While attending The University of Chicago, where he received an M.A. in English, he won an Academy of American Poets Award. His poetry has appeared in over one hundred literary poetry journals, including Epoch, The Ledge, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and 5AM. He has published five books of poetry, the latest being Off-Target (d'cypher press, 2006), which is now in its second printing. In response to this book, chicagopoetry.com named him one of Chicago’s Top Dogs in Poetry. Other book publications include Poet As Bad Guy, Instead of Gifts, Questions/Answers, and God's Haircut and Other Remembered Dreams. As a non-fiction author, he has published Brando, Cagney, and Dillinger:Dead or Alive (on which he was co-author). As a playwright his radio dramas have been broadcast on WFMT and other Chicago FM stations. His farce, Fourplay, was produced at the Barry St. Loft Theater in 1974. He is the founding editor of Free Lunch, A Poetry Miscellany, now in its nineteenth year of publication. He currently lives in Glenview, Illinois with his wife, Beverly.