Media/Bookings: bedelman@glendale.edu
BART EDELMAN: MINI BIO
Bart Edelman is a professor of English at Glendale College where he edits Eclipse, a literary
journal. His poetry has appeared in anthologies and textbooks published by Cengage, City
Lights Books, Etruscan Press, Harcourt Brace, Heinle, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, Simon &
Schuster, Thomson, the University of Iowa Press, and Wadsworth.
Poetry collections:
The Geographer’s Wife (2012).
The Alphabet of Love (1999)
The Last Mojito (2005)
Under Damaris’ Dress (1996)
The Gentle Man (2001)
Crossing the Hackensack (1993)
BART EDELMAN: SHORT BIO
Bart Edelman is currently Professor of English at Glendale College, where he edits Eclipse, A
Literary Journal. His poetry appears frequently in newspapers and journals, as well as
textbooks and anthologies published by Cengage, City Lights Books, Etruscan Press, Harcourt
Brace, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, Pearson, Simon & Schuster, Thomson/Heinle, the University
of Iowa Press, and Wadsworth.
He teaches poetry workshops across the United States and was Poet-in-Residence at Monroe
College of the State University at New York. Collections of his work include Crossing the
Hackensack (Prometheus Press, 1993), Under Damaris' Dress (Lightning Publications, 1996), The
Alphabet of Love (Red Hen Press, 1999), The Gentle Man (Red Hen Press, 2001), and The Last
Mojito (Red Hen Press, 2005). His most recent collection is The Geographer’s Wife (Red Hen
Press, 2012).
BART EDELMAN: FULL BIO
Bart Edelman was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1951 and spent his childhood in
Teaneck. He moved to California after earning both his undergraduate and graduate degrees
from Hofstra University in New York. Currently, he is a professor of English at Glendale College
where he edits Eclipse, a literary journal. He has been awarded numerous grants and
fellowships from the U. S. Department of Education and the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas at Austin to conduct literary research in India, Egypt, Nigeria, and Poland.
Crossing the Hackensack, Edelman's first book of poetry, was published by Prometheus
Press in 1993. Susan Heeger, in the Los Angeles Times, wrote, "Edelman has written movingly
about the cultural and emotional limbo of living abroad." Michael Logue, of Chapman
University's Steel and Ivy Poetry Series, commented, "Edelman bridges the two worlds of
scholarly poetry and the oral traditions of street poetry to create a rich work of art which
touches the reader on many levels. His poetry appeals not only to the intellect but also to the
emotions."
Edelman's second book, Under Damaris' Dress, was published by Lightning Publications in
1996. Mike Cluff, in Inside English, wrote, "Edelman's poetry shows an artist at work. . . his
poetry is poignant, metaphoric and breathtaking." Cheri Davis Langdell, author of W.S. Merwin,
commented, "Bart Edelman's poetry is true art. These beautiful, knowing poems are about
loneliness, love and isolation, poems which have at their center a stillness as well as a strong
presence."
The Alphabet of Love, Edelman's third collection, was published by Red Hen Press in 1999.
Oscar Mandel, author of Fundamentals of the Art of Poetry, wrote, "often humorous, always
tender-hearted, Bart Edelman is the best kind of poet we have. . . . This entire collection of
shimmering pearls sings to a multitude of grateful readers." Jo Ray McCuen, editor of Readings
for Writers, commented, "All of the tightly woven, passionate lines in Bart Edelman's The
Alphabet of Love enter your heart where they cast a hypnotic spell that leaves you with new
insights about love, hate, and despair. . . . Edelman has made a significant contribution to
contemporary poetry."
Edelman's fourth volume of poetry is The Gentle Man, also published by Red Hen Press, in
2001. Kate Gray, in the Clackamas Literary Review, wrote "Men's poetry has grown into a
gentle art. . . . Perhaps it was Robert Bly who called men inside themselves. Certainly it was Billy
Collins and Li-Young Lee who challenged men to notice their vulnerable natures and the
intimacy of their relationships. In this fine new tradition lies Bart Edelman. In his latest
collection, The Gentle Man, he captures the complexity of the roles men play today. . . ."
William Heyen commented, "Not quite like any other poetry I've read. . . Bart Edelman's
complex and inexhaustible song in The Gentle Man concerns his admission that 'What I really
know about love / Could never amount to much.' . . . Reading this unexpected, unusual,
troubling book, I kept thinking of Emerson's ‘Up again, old heart!' And my deep anxieties were
answered with poetry."
Edelman’s fifth book of poetry is The Last Mojito (Red Hen Press, 2005). Ryan Van Cleave,
editor of The Longman Anthology of Poetry, wrote, “The Last Mojito weaves passionate
portraits into a cohesive enthralling collection. These poems represent an astonishing range of
vision and connect to the tradition of American literature.” David L. Ulin, Book Editor of the Los
Angeles Times, commented, “Bart Edelman is one of my favorite poets – spare and smart,
lyrical but never sentimental about the mechanics of love. In his new collection, The Last
Mojito, he invokes figures both public and private to get at the ‘long drawn out sorrow’ of our
silent hearts. Edelman is an elegist, writing laments for our daily losses and capitulations, yet
seeing hope where, by all rights, it should not exist. In the process, he continually exposes the
difficult dynamics of what it means to be human.”
Edelman’s most recent poetry collection is The Geographer’s Wife (Red Hen Press, 2012).
Amy Sage Webb, editor of the Flint Hills Review wrote, “The way magnetism draws the needle
of a compass, yearning pulls the poems in this collection through the cardinal directions of a
world in which time is not linear but cyclical… Bart Edelman’s The Geographer’s Wife orients
the reader in the body as a map of desire, where the individual life becomes a locus of its own.
Todd James Pierce, winner of the Drue Heinz Literary Award commented, “Bart Edelman’s sixth
book, The Geographer’s Wife, is chock-full of stunning, stand-out poems… In this collection,
Bart Edelman is single-minded in his purpose. He takes in the popular language of America—
East, North, South, and West—and creates buoyant melodies of “coolness,” a popular verbal
chill that also diagnoses our deepest troubles—contemporary isolation and a profound longing
for love. And Tom Chandler, Poet Laureate of Rhode Island emeritus wrote, “Bart Edelman
understands how words should taste, how sounds strung with precision can create a universe
of meaning far beyond denotation… The poems in The Geographer’s Wife are etched into
mirrors—transparent but with surprises built to stand up through reading after reading.”
Edelman was Poet-in-Residence at Monroe College of the State University of New York at
Rochester. Recent anthology and textbook credits include Cengage, City Light Books, Etruscan
Press, Harcourt Brace, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall/Pearson, Simon & Schuster, Thomson/Heinle,
The University of Iowa Press, and Wadsworth. He lives in Pasadena.
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BART EDELMAN CHRONOLOGY
1951
Born in Paterson, New Jersey (November 4)
1956-1963
Eugene Field Elementary School (Teaneck)
1963-1966
Thomas Jefferson Junior High School
1966-1969
Teaneck High School
1969-1970
Butler University (Indianapolis)
1970-1973
Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York) (B.A. Political Science)
1972
Attend UCLA, summer session
1973
Travel throughout Western Europe and Scandinavia
1973-1974
Hofstra University (M.A. English Literature)
1974-1975
Adjunct English Instructor, Kingsborough Community College (Brooklyn)
1975
Relocation to Los Angeles
1975-1976
Adjunct English Instructor, Santa Monica College, West Los Angeles College, Long Beach City
College, Glendale College
1976-2012
Full-time English Professor, Glendale College
1977-1979
Adjunct English Instructor, UCLA Extension
1980
Research Fellowship to study in India, United States Department of Education, USC
1981
Research Fellowship to study in Egypt, United States Department of Education, USC
1982
Research Fellowship to study in Nigeria, United States Department of Education, USC
1988
Research Fellowship to study in Poland, LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT, Austin
1989
Assume position as Editor, Eclipse, A Literary Journal
1993
Crossing the Hackensack published (Prometheus Press)
1996
Under Damaris’ Dress published (Lightning Publications)
1996
Footsteps published (Inevitable Press)
1998
Taught in Prague, Glendale College Study Abroad
1999
The Alphabet of Love published (Red Hen Press)
2001
The Gentle Man published (Red Hen Press)
2002
Poet-in-Residence, Monroe Community College, SUNY
2005
The Last Mojito published (Red Hen Press)
2006
Featured poet, Des Moines Literary Arts Festival
2010
Featured poet, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
2012
The Geographer’s Wife published (Red Hen Press)