upstreet poet is Guggenheim Fellow

Poet Bill Zavatsky, whose work has appeared in the second and third issues of upstreet and will appear in the upcoming fourth issue, has been awarded a 2008 Fellowship in Poetry by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded, on a competitive basis, to enable advanced professionals in the sciences, humanities, and creative arts to pursue research or creative work of their choice.

Bill Zavatsky grew up in Bridgeport, CT, and holds BA and MFA degrees from Columbia University. He has worked as a journalist and published three collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Where X Marks the Spot (Hanging Loose, 2006). A poem that appears in that collection and also in upstreet number two, "Live at the Village Vanguard," received a Special Mention in the 2008 Pushcart Prize anthology. A longtime jazz pianist, he has written poems for CDs by Bill Evans and Marc Copland. He has also published translations of several French poets, including (with Ron Padgett) The Poems of A. O. Barnabooth, by Valery Larbaud, which will be reissued this year by Black Widow Press of Boston. He lives in New York City and teaches English at The Trinity School.

Photo by Margaretta K. Mitchell