Poet, Radio Host, Editor
The following interview about Kelly Thomas by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Kelly Thomas Is there a person nationwide who doesn’t know the fate of Kelly Thomas? Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas’s father remains an outspoken advocate for the homeless community. Four years after Fullerton police…
The following interview of Brian Turner by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Brian Turner Brian Turner’s latest book, My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir (W.W. Norton & Co. US 2014; Jonathan Cape/Random House UK 2014) has been called “Achingly, disturbingly, shockingly beautiful” by…
The following interview of Ken Waldman by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Ken Waldman Ken Waldman has drawn on his 30 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories, and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his. A former college professor with an MFA…
The following interview of Richard Gilbert by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Richard Gilbert Education. While at Naropa University (Boulder, Colorado) studied and hung out with beat poets Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, Gary Snyder, and others; became a Tibetan Buddhist meditator. Performed in…
The following interview of Fereidun Shokatfard by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Fereidun Shokatfard Fereidun Shokatfard is a native of Iran. He is an artist, educator and accomplished businessman. His love for poetry of Rumi and Hafiz was inspired by the teachings of his maternal…
The following interview of Austin Straus by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Austin Straus Austin Straus was born in June 1939 in Brooklyn, New York. He has lived in Southern California since 1978. His poems and illustrations have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies,…
The following interview of Pam Houston by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Pam Houston Pam Houston’s most recent book is Contents May Have Shifted, published by W.W. Norton in 2012. She is also the author of two collections of linked short stories, Cowboys Are My…
The following interview of Mary Kay Rummel by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Mary Kay Rummel Mary Kay Rummel is the first Poet Laureate of Ventura County, California. The Lifeline Trembles, her seventh book of poetry, won the 2014 Blue Light Book Prize and was recently…
The following interview of Diane Frank by Lois P. Jones originally aired on KPFK Los Angeles (reproduced with permission). [download audio] Biographical Information—Diane Frank Diane Frank is an award-winning poet and author of six books of poems, including Swan Light, Entering the Word Temple, and The Winter Life of Shooting Stars. Her friends describe her…
I assumed KPFK would rather have me send listeners to their website, so I only posted a clip from this last week. Quite the contrary, host Lois P. Jones asked if I’d post the whole thing, so it has a permanent home. I just posted the first segment, with Peggy Dobreer. Here’s the second, with…
Peggy Dobreer is an educator, poet, public speaker, and artisan who works and teaches in the Extension Program at Loyola Marymount University. She was a leading force in the educational vision of the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence, from 1997-2004, and co-wrote and edited 64 Ways to Practice Nonviolence: A Curriculum and Resource…