Listen to Brendan Constantine!

Brendan Constantine was born in 1967, the second child of two working actors, and named after Irish playwright Brendan Behan. An ardent supporter of Southern California’s poetry communities and one of its most recognized poets, he has served as a teacher of poetry in local schools and colleges for the last eighteen years. In addition to this, he regularly brings poetry workshops to foster and eldercare centers. In 2002 Mr. Constantine was nominated for Poet Laureate of the state of California.

His first collection, Letters To Guns, was released in February 2009 from Red Hen Press and continues to receive acclaim. His work has appeared in numerous journals, most notably Ploughshares, FIELD, Ninth Letter, The Pinch, ArtLife and LA Times Bestseller The Underground Guide to Los Angeles. His most recent collection, Birthday Girl With Possum (2011 Write Bloody Press), was a nominee for the National Book Award.

Mr. Constantine is currently poet in residence at the Windward School in West Los Angeles. He is also currently working with The Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, bringing poetry workshops to Alzheimer’s patients throughout the southland. He holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Hollywood at Bela Lugosi’s last address.