Brandi, John

Born in 1943, John Brandi attended California State University, Northridge and graduated with a B.A. in art and anthropology. From 1966 to 1968 he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. It was also in Ecuador that Brandi began publishing his poems in hand-sewn mimeograph editions. After further travel he returned to the United States where he met several Beat Generation poets and David Meltzer, who published Brandi's first collection of prose poems. In 1971 Brandi moved to New Mexico and established Tooth of Time Books, which published the works of new poets. In addition to his writing and art Brandi teaches in a wide variety of settings, such as schools, prisons, nursing homes, and centers for at-risk youth.

John Brandi was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943 and graduated from the University of California at Northridge in 1965. He served with the Peace Corps in Ecuador in the late 1960s and there he began publishing poetry. After living in Alaska and Mexico, Brandi settled in New Mexico where he has lived for 30 years. There he has worked as an itinerant poet in schools, homes for the elderly, prisons, and youth centers, etc. He has continued to travel extensively. Painter and photographer as well as poet and essayist, Brandi has produced and published numerous works. Amongst other honors he was awarded an NEA Fellowship for poetry -- though "the real awards belong to the poems and paintings, not the artist."

For a fuller biography and a portrait, see: http://www.tetramatrix.com/websites/johnbrandi/biographical%5Finformation.htm.