JAMES PENHA has been teaching writing and literature at universities and secondary schools in the United States and Asia for forty years. His writing career dates to 1975 with the first publication of his poetry and of his seminal Paulist Press book (written with John Azrak) of educational theory and practice, The Learning Community: The Story of a Mini-School .

With hundreds of essays, short stories and poems published in print and online journals and anthologies--including his Pudding House chapbook Greatest Hits: 1975-2000 and his award-winning On the Back of the Dragon (Omega Cat Press), James Penha's volume of poetry, No Bones to Carry, is just out from New Sins Press, where it won the 2006-07 Editors' Choice Award.

James Penha also edits The New Verse News, a literary e-zine publishing politically progressive poetry on news and current events by writers from around the world.

A native New Yorker, he has lived for the past fifteen years in Jakarta, Indonesia.