Larry Beckett was born in Glendale, California, in 1947. His poetry has been published in Zyzzyva, Field, Margie, Salamander, the anthology Portland Lights from Nine Lights Press, and his first book, Songs and Sonnets from Rainy Day Women Press, was favourably reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle. Beat Poetry, a study of the San Francisco renaissance, was published by Beatdom Books. Paul Bunyan, a book-length poem, is out from Smokestack Books, and has received positive reviews in Zyzzyva and The Recusant. He performed the poem at the UK’s Ledbury Poetry Festival. Wyatt Earp, a novel in prose poetry, is forthcoming from Alternating Current Press. The complete U.S. Rivers was performed in a choral reading by a company of actors, and recorded. His work has been commended by Jack Hirschman, David Meltzer, Tom Clark, Ann Charters, David Young, and U.S. Poet Laureates W. S. Merwin and Charles Wright. Beckett lives in Portland, Oregon.