San Diego Poetry Annual

Anthony Blacksher, known as Ant Black in performance poetry circles, served as Associate Publisher of the SDPA prior to taking the reins with the 2020-21 edition. He earned a PhD from Claremont Graduate University.

A professor at San Bernardino Valley College, he serves on the board of directors and as Vice President of the local arts non-profit San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild (SDEAG), a 501(c)(3) public charity which sponsors the SDPA, the Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, the Rob Melton Librarian Lifetime Achievement Award, and the San Diego Jazz Anthology. His performance poetry has appeared on YouTube and in the San Diego Poetry Annual.         (sdeag.org)

Associate Publisher

Michael Klam, Executive Editor of the SDPA, also serves as Associate Publisher. He organizes the Poetry & Arts Series, ongoing since 2001.   (Poetryandartsd.com)

His books include two from Puna Press — Emma and the Buddha Frog (2007) and The Cheapest Flight to Paradise (2017) — and Anything for a Dull Moment (Garden Oak Press: 2020).  

He serves on the board of directors of SDEAG.       (sdeag.org)

Founder

William Harry Harding served as Publisher of the SDPA from 2005 through 2020. He has written four novels, including Three Women and the River or The Englishman Who Forgot His Own Name (Lymer & Hart: 2018).

His first novel, Rainbow (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: 1979), was a Book-of-the-Month Club featured alternate, with movie rights sold to Warner Bros. His second, Young Hart (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: 1982), won the New Jersey Writer’s Award of Merit. His third, Mill Song (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: 1985), was excerpted in the anthology Italian American Writers of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press).  His children’s book, Alvin’s Famous No-Horse (Henry Holt: 1992), illustrated by Michael Chesworth, was nominated for the  Sunshine State Award and has been translated into Japanese.

His recent short fiction and poetry have appeared in The Paterson Literary Review, earning two Pushcart Prize nominations. He founded Garden Oak Press.  (gardenoakpress.com)

The Book Critic for Westways, he contributed literary criticism to the Los Angeles Times, and was Sports Editor of The Californian newspaper. President and Chairman of the Board of SDEAG, he has been a member of ASCAP, the Writer’s Guild of America, West, the Academy of American Poets, and The Author’s Guild.         (sdeag.org)

Under the stage name Franco Z, he led the jazz band, Z-BOP!, at venues throughout Southern California. (lodestarz.com)

Bill came to San Diego in 1969 to fly for the U.S. Navy, completing over 200 combat missions with Fighter Squadron 92 aboard the aircraft carriers USS America and USS Constellation.