The literary bio

Kim Addonizio's fifth poetry collection, Lucifer at the Starlite, was recently published by W.W. Norton. Her collection Tell Me was a National Book Award Finalist.

Addonizio has also authored two instructional books on writing poetry: The Poet's Companion (with Dorianne Laux), and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within, both from W.W. Norton.

Her first novel, Little Beauties, was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2005 and came out in paperback inJuly 06. Little Beauties was chosen as "Best Book of the Month" by Book of the Month Club. My Dreams Out in the Street, her second novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in 2007.

She also has a word/music CD with poet Susan Browne, "Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing," available from cdbaby; a book of stories, In the Box Called Pleasure (FC2); and the anthology Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos, coedited with Cheryl Dumesnil.

Addonizio's awards include two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship,a Pushcart Prize, a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal, and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award.Her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared widely in anthologies, literary journals, and textbooks, including Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, Bad Girls, Chick-Lit, Dick for a Day, Gettysburg Review, Paris Review, Penthouse, Poetry, and Threepenny Review. She teaches private workshops in Oakland, CA, and online.

The other bio

Previous occupations: waitress, fry cook, tennis instructor, Kelly Girl (deadening temporary office work), attendant for the disabled, auto parts store bookkeeper.

My mother, Paluine Betz, was a tennis champion. See her bio and some great pictures of her here. My dad, Bob Addie, was a sportswriter for the Washington Post. I have four brothers. My daughter, Aya Cash, is an amazing actor (in my completely unbiased opinion) who lives Brooklyn.

SIGN Leo

FAVORITE COLOR Teal blue

FAVORITE POETS John Keats Walt Whitman Elizabeth Bishop all the ancient Chinese & Japanese Jack Gilbert C.K.Williams Ovid Antonio Machado Emily Dickinson William Blake Dean Young

FAVORITE SINGER/SONGWRITERS Adam Duritz Patty Griffin Sarah McLachlan Ani Di Franco Tom Waits Steve Earle

PREVIOUS INCARNATION Edna St. Vincent Millay

WHO I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE Old black man sitting on the porch playing blues harmonica all day long

HOW I SPEND MY TIME WHEN I'M NOT WRITING Weightlifting, tennis, ice skating, yoga, teaching, reading, listening to blues, playing my Mississippi Saxophone, drinking wine, spending too much money on eating out, watching TV & DVDs, feeling fucked up, feeling happy, feeling important, feeling stupid and inconsequential, obsessing over Iraq & other corporate imperialist misadventures