Christopher Bogart

Poet

Eatontown, NJ
New Jersey US

Author's Bio

Christopher Bogart is a retired educator and a working poet and writer with BS in Liberal Arts from St. Peter’s College/University, an MA and an MFA in Creative Writing from Monmouth University.  

He is the founder and member of Jersey Shore Poets, and organizes an annual public poetry reading for National Poetry Month, “Poets Live!” which has been presented for nine years at The Eatontown Library, Monmouth County Library/Eastern Branch and online.

His poetry has been published in Voices Rising from the Grove, Spindrift, WestWard Quarterly, Saggio Poetry Journal, The Monmouth Review (2013 and 2014, 2020, 2022), Mind Murals (2013), Whirlwind Review (Fall 2014), The Howl of Sorrow, A Collection of Poetry Inspired by Hurricane Sandy, This Broken Shore (Summer 2015. 2018, 2023), Jersey Shore Poets/First Edition, The Poeming Pidgeon 2022, Poetry for Ukraine 2022, The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow 15, New Jersey Bards Poetry Review 2023, Rhyme and PUNishment, 2024 as well as various online sites.

He also writes short stories, translating the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, Arthur Rimbaud and Sergei Esenin into English, is working on a personal memoir titled You Must Be Somebody, as well as working on his first novel, tentatively titled The Beast, about the plight of two Central American teenage migrants who flee poverty and crime in search of a better life in America.

He is presently working on putting together a filmed reading of his book, This Conversation with 10 fellow poets spanning two continents for use in readings and in classroom settings, and co-authoring an epistolary book of poetry with poet, James C. Ellerbe, about race in America, tentatively titled The Next Conversation.

Publications & Prizes

Books:
This Conversation (Poetry Box, 2022)
,
Breakpoint (Poetry Box, 2020)
,
The Eater of Dreams (Poetry Box, 2020)
,
14: Antologia del Sonoran (Poetry Box, 2018)
Prizes won: 

On August 1, 2005, he presented the keynote paper on the importance of poetry in the teaching of literature and writing to the Oxford Round Table at the Oxford Union Debate Hall at Oxford University.

In 2015, he was chosen as First Runner Up for Monmouth University’s inaugural The Joyce Carol Oates Award for Excellence in Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Non-Fiction.

In 2017, he was chosen as one of two finalists for The Brian Turner Literary Prize for Fiction.

In 2018, his chapbook about the Yuma 14, entitled 14: Antología del Sonoran, was awarded third place in The Poetry Box Chapbook Contest and was published in October of 2018 by The Poetry Box.

One of the poems in 14: Antología del Sonoran, “Abraham Morales Hernandez,” was nominated in 2018 for a Pushcart Prize.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
John Milton, Dylan Thomas, Сергей Есенин (Sergei Esenin), Natalie Diaz, Jericho Brown, Robert Pinsky and Ted Kooser.
What I'm reading now: 
Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American Poet by Robert Pinsky, Quiver by Luke Johnson

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
No
Identifies as: 
American
Born in: 
Brooklyn, NY
New York
Raised in: 
Spotswood, NJ
New Jersey
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Last update: Mar 15, 2024