James Bertolino

Bertolino is the author of 30 books and chapbooks of poetry and prose, beginning in 1968 with two chapbooks, Day of Change and Drool. He was widely published from early on in his career, and over the years his work has appeared in more than 100 magazines and more than 40 anthologies. As an editor he co-founded the literary journal Abraxas and the Cincinnati Poetry Review, as well as sitting on the editorial board of Ithaca House. In 1972 he founded Stone Marrow Press, which published his own work as well as other poets' work. He co-founded Egress Studio Press with Anita K. Boyle in 2002.

Bertolino was born in Pence, Wisconsin, near the border with Michigan. A descendant of Italian and French Canadian immigrant grandparents, he was introduced to poetry in high school by his sister, who brought him books by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other Beat poets from the local library; he started writing his own poems shortly thereafter. He attended University of Wisconsin in the 1960s, and later did graduate studies at Cornell University under A. R. Ammons. He taught creative writing for 36 years at several institutions, including Cornell, University of Cincinnati, Washington State University, Western Washington University, Skagit Valley College, Edmonds Community College and Shoreline Community College. He spent a year as Writer-in-Residence and Hallie Ford Chair of Creative Writing at Willamette University; in 2006 he retired from teaching. He lives with his partner, the poet and artist Anita K. Boyle, in Bellingham, Washington. In 2007, he was awarded a Jeanne Lohmann Poetry Prize for Washington State Poets.