Sean Thomas Dougherty

Sean Thomas Dougherty is an “underground/sound.” A border crosser by birth, Dougherty was raised in a politically radical, interracial family. He is the author or editor of twelve books across genre including the forthcoming All I Ask for Is Longing (2014 BOA Editions) and Sasha Sings the Laundry on the Line (2010 BOA Editions) which was a finalist for Binghamton U’s literary prize for the best book by a poet over 40. He is the recipient of two Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Fellowships in Poetry and a Fulbright Lectureship to the Balkans. Known for his electrifying performances he has performed at hundreds of venues, universities and festivals across North America and Europe including the Lollapalooza Music Festival, the Detroit Art Festival, the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Erie Jazz Festival, the London (UK) Poetry Cafe and the BardFest Series in Budapest Hungary, and across Albania and Macedonia where he appeared on national television, sponsored by the US State Department. He has worked as a lecturer, in factories, warehouses, as a security guard, in a bakery, a sawmill, and as a teacher of at-risk youth. He currently works at a pool hall and teaches creative writing part-time at Cleveland State University. Dougherty argues that the ancient and honorable art of poetry is the language of peace. As he has written “Poetry /is the opposite of barbed wire.”