Meet the Authors of Moonrise Press Books
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Ella Czajkowska - Author of Alchemy of Words, A Book of 70 Poems in Traditional Forms (September 2024)
Ella Czajkowska is a professional Translator, Transcriptionist, Polish and English-Speaking certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner and Neuro-Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner, Certified Personal & Business Life Coach, Graphic Designer, English Second Language Teacher, Poet, and PR Manager. Her love of creative writing was born in high school, where she started writing poetry and short stories. In 2015, Ella started to write poetry in both Polish and English, and from 2017 she writes only in English. Her book of Polish language poetry, entitled “Tam, gdzie umierają marzenia”, was published in Rzeszów by Sowello in 2019. Her English-language poems appeared in the California Quarterly and the Crystal Fire anthology (Moonrise Press, 2022). She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2022 by the California State Poetry Society for her poem "The Calling”.
Ella worked for many years as Public Relations (PR) Manager for the EWELINEB brand. She has produced music and PR materials for fashion shows at the Fashion Week in such places like NYC, London, and Amsterdam, among others. Ella’s other great passion and inspiration in life is music. Surrounded by it her whole life, with both her father and mother having graduated from prestigious music schools, there was always a great respect for art and culture in her family home. All throughout her childhood she would be taken to theaters and opera houses, where her love for opera, ballet, and classical music ever grew. A graduate of two music schools, Ella learned to play piano, clarinet, and percussion—piano remains her favorite instrument to this day. A true Renaissance person with a wide range of interests, talents, and knowledge, she was born in Warsaw, Poland and lives in Los Angeles, California.
Ella worked for many years as Public Relations (PR) Manager for the EWELINEB brand. She has produced music and PR materials for fashion shows at the Fashion Week in such places like NYC, London, and Amsterdam, among others. Ella’s other great passion and inspiration in life is music. Surrounded by it her whole life, with both her father and mother having graduated from prestigious music schools, there was always a great respect for art and culture in her family home. All throughout her childhood she would be taken to theaters and opera houses, where her love for opera, ballet, and classical music ever grew. A graduate of two music schools, Ella learned to play piano, clarinet, and percussion—piano remains her favorite instrument to this day. A true Renaissance person with a wide range of interests, talents, and knowledge, she was born in Warsaw, Poland and lives in Los Angeles, California.
Toti O'Brien - Author, An Alphabet of Birds, Magical Short Stories from Home and Garden (October 2020)
TOTI O’BRIEN is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish last name. She was born in Rome, Italy, raised in Sicily and France. After touring Europe and Brazil with her itinerant theater, in the early nineties, she established herself in Los Angeles where she makes a living as a self-employed artist, performing musician and professional dancer. O’Brien’s first book of stories, Africa, was published in 1990. It was followed by another short story collection, Reversed Memories, two illustrated children books and an essay collection, Lanterna Magica, gathering selected work out of her long-term collaboration with Italian journals and magazines. O’Brien started writing in the English language in 2004. Since then, her poetry, fiction and non-fiction were published in hundreds of journals and anthologies in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, India, Australia, and all over the world. Her most recent appearances include The Moth, The Hamilton Stone, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and World Literature Today. Her poetry collection Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020) and a prose collection, Pages of a Broken Diary (Pskj’s Porch, 2021), are about to be released. Her work was nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fiction, Best American Essay, the Pushcart, and various other prizes. Her memoir ‘Nicotine’ won a nonfiction prose award in 2018. Her essay ‘Blur In The Front Line’ won the Anthony Award in 2016. Besides her creative writing, she contributes articles and reviews about art, music, film, literature and civilization to several magazines. She also translates poetry and prose from the Italian, the Spanish, and the French. O’Brien’s multimedia artwork was exhibited in group and solo shows in Europe and the US, since the early nineties. Her paintings, sculptures, collages and textiles were featured in many publications, and she has produced book covers and illustrations.
Andrzej Wendland - Author of Górecki, Penderecki - Diptych (October 2019)
Andrzej Wendland is a musician, musicologist, editor and publicist. A graduate of the Instrumental Department of the Academy of Music in Łodz, he also studied music theory and composition. He won many prizes at international competitions as a performer and composer in Poland, Italy and Greece. In 1980-1986, Wendland served as a lecturer of the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. He collaborated with the Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne PWM as the author of the series „El Maestro” He also collaborated with the Professional Music Press and published articles in many music magazines in Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain and Japan. He is the author of books: Gitara w twórczości Aleksandra Tansmana [Guitar in the Oeuvre of Aleksander Tansman] (Łódź, 1996) and Górecki. IV Symfonia Tansman Epizody. Fenomen, Żywioł, Tajemnica [Górecki. Symphony No. 4 Tansman Episodes, Phenomenon, Elements, Mystery] (Łódź 2016). His study of Górecki's Fourth Symphony appeared in Górecki in Context: Essays on Music edited by Maja Trochimczyk and published by Moonrise Press in 2017. Wendland is the founder and artistic director of the Tansman Festival –International Festival and Competition of Musical Individualities. Mr. Wendland is the recipient of many honors and prizes, including the medal „Zasłużony Kulturze Gloria Artis” from the Polish government in 2015.
Hanna Kulenty-Majoor - Author of Odwrócony Dom, a Novel of Dreams (in Polish), October 2017
Hanna Kulenty-Majoor, a Polish-Dutch composer, has been working as a freelance writer since 1985, pursuing numerous commissions from major soloists, ensembles and orchestras. An author of more than a hundred compositions - from solo works, through chamber music, symphony, opera, to theater and film - she has created a series of distinctive musical styles, starting from a "polyphony of arcs" technique (developed in the Masters' thesis), then the technique of "trance in European music" (most notably used in the opera "Mother of Black-Winged Dreams" and the technique of "polyphony of space-time" (developed in the doctoral dissertation and used in major symphonic works and operas).
Her music is recognizable almost from the first note, and sustains listeners interest through its tension, unexpected twists and turns of superimposed layers of music and emotion to last note. Her music now is referred to as "surrealist music" (or "musique surrealistique" - everything sounds better in French!). Her works have been performed on all continents by such ensembles as the Kronos and Arditti String Quartets, ereprijs of the Netherlands, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, Poland, and National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Hanna Kulenty-Majoor has taught at major music institutions in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Poland. She also participated in many juries of music competitions. Currently, she serves as professor of composition at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She studied composition under the direction of W. Kotoński at the Music Academy in Warsaw and Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In 1990 she was a guest composer of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (daad) in Berlin. Kulenty-Majoor is a recipient of a number of important awards, of which the most valuable is the winning of the 50th International Tribune of Composers and the Mozart Medal of the UNESCO International Music Council for the First Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (2003). She recently received a lifetime achievement award from the Polish Composers' Union. Paperback, 580 pages, ISBN 978-1-945938-12-2 $40.00.
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Margaret Saine - Author of Lit Angels, a Book of Poetry Inspired by the Arts - February 2017, and The Garden of Earth, According to Nature (September 2018)
argaret Saine lives in Los Angeles. After a doctorate in French from Yale, she taught Spanish at universities in California and Arizona. She writes poetry, haiku, and short stories in five languages and also translates other poets. Her books are “Bodyscapes,” “Words of Art,” and five haiku chapbooks. She serves on the Editorial Board for the California Quarterly.
Poetry manuscripts ready for publication are “The Five Senses,” “Reading Your Lips," "Words of Winter," and "While Alive," as well as “Paesaggi che respirano” [Breathing Landscapes], to be published in Italy. She has recently completed “As You Were Saying,” a dialogue with American poet William Carlos Williams.
"Lit Angels" Paperback, ISBN 978-1-945938-02-3, $15.00
"Lit Angels" Color Paperback, ISBN 978-1-945938-04-7 , $35.00
"Lit Angels" EBook, for iTunes, etc., ISBN 978-1-945938-05-4, $10.00
"Gardens of the Earth: According to Nature" e-Book, $10.00, paperback. $18.00
Poetry manuscripts ready for publication are “The Five Senses,” “Reading Your Lips," "Words of Winter," and "While Alive," as well as “Paesaggi che respirano” [Breathing Landscapes], to be published in Italy. She has recently completed “As You Were Saying,” a dialogue with American poet William Carlos Williams.
"Lit Angels" Paperback, ISBN 978-1-945938-02-3, $15.00
"Lit Angels" Color Paperback, ISBN 978-1-945938-04-7 , $35.00
"Lit Angels" EBook, for iTunes, etc., ISBN 978-1-945938-05-4, $10.00
"Gardens of the Earth: According to Nature" e-Book, $10.00, paperback. $18.00
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Phyllis Zych Budka - The Maska Dramatic Circle: Polish American Theater in Schenectady, New York
(1933-1942), Nonfiction - May 2016
PHYLLIS RITA ZYCH BUDKA was born in Schenectady, New York, and lives in nearby Niskayuna. All her grandparents came to Schenectady in the early 20th century. After graduating from the University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Language, she married Alfred J. Budka. She received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College and worked as a metallurgical engineer, retiring in 2007. Interested in genealogy and local family history, she made many trips to Poland and Lithuania to discover ancestral history.
Her book presents a detailed history of the Maska Theatrical Circle, a theater group active in Schenectady, NY, before and during WWII. The group included many young Polish Americans and played an important role in the community. Phyllis Zych Budka is the daughter of group's co-founders and members, Sophie Korycinski Zych and Stanley Zych.
ISBN 978-0-9963981-4-5 (paperback), $30, x plus 254 pages
ISBN 978-0-9963981-5-2 (eBook – PDF format), $10 download
Her book presents a detailed history of the Maska Theatrical Circle, a theater group active in Schenectady, NY, before and during WWII. The group included many young Polish Americans and played an important role in the community. Phyllis Zych Budka is the daughter of group's co-founders and members, Sophie Korycinski Zych and Stanley Zych.
ISBN 978-0-9963981-4-5 (paperback), $30, x plus 254 pages
ISBN 978-0-9963981-5-2 (eBook – PDF format), $10 download
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Zofia Reklewska Braun and Kazimierz Braun - Across the Altantic: The Adamowicz Brothers, Polish Aviation Pioneers (Nonfiction - September 2015)
Zofia Reklewska-Braun is literature and theatre historian, journalist, and educator. She studied Polish Literature at the Warsaw University, earning Master of Letters degree. She worked as editor at the State Scholarly Publishing House in Warsaw and as literary manager at the Osterwa Theatre in Lublin. She was teaching polish language and literature in Polish and American high schools, Buffalo State College, and University at Buffalo. She wrote a book, How It Really Was (about the martial law in Poland) and co-authored, with her husband Kazimierz Braun, a monograph, Director Teofil Trzciński and a historical book Good Priests. With theatre scholar and critic, Konstanty Puzyna she wrote a study Jacques Copeau’s “Bare Stage.” She published several articles in literary, religious, sociological, and theatre journals in Poland, and she collaborated with Nowe Życie in Wrocław, White Eagle in Boston, Am-Pol Eagle in Buffalo, and New Daily in New York, as well as with Polish radio stations in Chicago, New Jersey, and New York. She was active as an Instructor of Girl Scouts in Poland and as an adviser in various organizations and Roman Catholic parishes in Poland and the USA. Her memoires I Was Born in Between, (Norbertinum, Lublin, 2009) was a bestselling book in Poland. For her merits and achievements in teaching and promoting Polish history, literature, and language she was decorated with the Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic by President Lech Kaczyński.
Kazimierz Braun is director, writer, and scholar. He received his Ph. D. in Letters and Ph. D. in Theatre at the Poznań University, Poland, as well as M.F.A. and Ph.D. in Directing at the National School of Drama in Warsaw. He holds the Professor’s title in both Poland and the USA. He was artistic director and general manager of pro- fessional theaters in Poland, including The Contemporary Theater in Wrocław. He directed more than 150 productions, both professionally and academically, in Poland, the United States, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and other countries. He taught both at Polish and at American universities, including Wrocław University, Poznań University, New York University, City University of New York, Notre Dame University, University of California Santa Cruz, and University at Buffalo. He published more than 50 books in Polish, English, and Czech languages, including scholarly works, novels, and plays, which were produced in Poland, Canada, the United States, Ireland, and Russia. He also published extensively in Polish and American literary and theatre journals, as well as in encyclopedias. He received several prizes for theater, literature, and scholarship, including the awards of the Guggenheim, the Fulbright, the Turzańskis, and the Japanese Foundations. He is member of the International PEN Club, International Theater Institute, Polish Writers Association, and Polish Actors Union.
Moonrise Press, September 2015 ISBN 978-0-9963981-2-1, paperback, 240 pages, with 56 illustrations, a bibliography, and index, $20.00 ISBN 978-0-9963981-3-8, e-Book (ePub format), download, 4.97MB, $10.00
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Kazimierz Braun is director, writer, and scholar. He received his Ph. D. in Letters and Ph. D. in Theatre at the Poznań University, Poland, as well as M.F.A. and Ph.D. in Directing at the National School of Drama in Warsaw. He holds the Professor’s title in both Poland and the USA. He was artistic director and general manager of pro- fessional theaters in Poland, including The Contemporary Theater in Wrocław. He directed more than 150 productions, both professionally and academically, in Poland, the United States, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and other countries. He taught both at Polish and at American universities, including Wrocław University, Poznań University, New York University, City University of New York, Notre Dame University, University of California Santa Cruz, and University at Buffalo. He published more than 50 books in Polish, English, and Czech languages, including scholarly works, novels, and plays, which were produced in Poland, Canada, the United States, Ireland, and Russia. He also published extensively in Polish and American literary and theatre journals, as well as in encyclopedias. He received several prizes for theater, literature, and scholarship, including the awards of the Guggenheim, the Fulbright, the Turzańskis, and the Japanese Foundations. He is member of the International PEN Club, International Theater Institute, Polish Writers Association, and Polish Actors Union.
Moonrise Press, September 2015 ISBN 978-0-9963981-2-1, paperback, 240 pages, with 56 illustrations, a bibliography, and index, $20.00 ISBN 978-0-9963981-3-8, e-Book (ePub format), download, 4.97MB, $10.00
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Beverly M. Collins - Mud in Magic (Poetry - June 2015)
Beverly M. Collins is fourth in a family of five daughters. Although born in Milford, Delaware, Bev is a Jersey-girl to the bone. She is also a graduate of Taylor Business Institute, a great admirer of Art who carries a deep appreciation and respect for other Artist. As a singer, Collins is a former national finalist for Talent America. As a poet, she is one of three 2012 prize winners for the California State Poetry Society whose works appear in a growing number of publications. She is the author of two volumes of poetry: Quiet Observations and of Mud in Magic (Moonrise Press, 2015). Her work also appeared in the California Quarterly, the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, and many anthologies by Poets on Site. More...
ISBN 978-0-9963981-0-7 (paperback), $15.00 plus S&H, 96 pages.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/beverly-m-collins/mud-in-magic/paperback/product-22216693.html
ISBN 978-0-9963981-1-4 (e-book, E-Pub format), $8.00
http://www.lulu.com/shop/beverly-m-collins/mud-in-magic/ebook/product-22172374.html
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Beverly M. Collins is fourth in a family of five daughters. Although born in Milford, Delaware, Bev is a Jersey-girl to the bone. She is also a graduate of Taylor Business Institute, a great admirer of Art who carries a deep appreciation and respect for other Artist. As a singer, Collins is a former national finalist for Talent America. As a poet, she is one of three 2012 prize winners for the California State Poetry Society whose works appear in a growing number of publications. She is the author of two volumes of poetry: Quiet Observations and of Mud in Magic (Moonrise Press, 2015). Her work also appeared in the California Quarterly, the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, and many anthologies by Poets on Site. More...
ISBN 978-0-9963981-0-7 (paperback), $15.00 plus S&H, 96 pages.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/beverly-m-collins/mud-in-magic/paperback/product-22216693.html
ISBN 978-0-9963981-1-4 (e-book, E-Pub format), $8.00
http://www.lulu.com/shop/beverly-m-collins/mud-in-magic/ebook/product-22172374.html
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Ed Rosenthal - The Desert Hat (Poetry - October 2013)
Ed Rosenthal, "Poet/Broker of Downtown Los Angeles," was known for using his verses to keep his escrows going. Taking the opposite tact of iconic modernist poets Wallace Stevens and T.S. Eliot, who kept their day jobs at a seeming distance from their poetry, Poet/Broker employed poetry as a tool in commercial real estate. Rosenthal's "Poetic Request for 30 day Extension of Contingencies" was cited in the Los Angeles Times for enabling a redevelopment project. His Wall Street Journal piece admonished clients in couplets. A fan of Federico Garcia Lorca, Rosenthal began to work with poems carrying lunar motifs in urban landscapes. Survival of a harrowing near-death experience in the Mojave Desert in 2010 has deepened this imagistic writer's divorce from practicality in the direction of spiritual exploration. More about the hat...
The Desert Hat: Paperback edition: $15.00 (+S&H), 74 pp., ISBN 978-0-9819693-7-4 eBook edition: $10.00, ISBN 978-0-9819693-9-8
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Ed Rosenthal, "Poet/Broker of Downtown Los Angeles," was known for using his verses to keep his escrows going. Taking the opposite tact of iconic modernist poets Wallace Stevens and T.S. Eliot, who kept their day jobs at a seeming distance from their poetry, Poet/Broker employed poetry as a tool in commercial real estate. Rosenthal's "Poetic Request for 30 day Extension of Contingencies" was cited in the Los Angeles Times for enabling a redevelopment project. His Wall Street Journal piece admonished clients in couplets. A fan of Federico Garcia Lorca, Rosenthal began to work with poems carrying lunar motifs in urban landscapes. Survival of a harrowing near-death experience in the Mojave Desert in 2010 has deepened this imagistic writer's divorce from practicality in the direction of spiritual exploration. More about the hat...
The Desert Hat: Paperback edition: $15.00 (+S&H), 74 pp., ISBN 978-0-9819693-7-4 eBook edition: $10.00, ISBN 978-0-9819693-9-8
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Marlene Hitt - Clocks and Water Drops (Poetry - April 2015)
Marlene Hitt is a Los Angeles poet, writer and retired educator with local history as an avocation. She has served for many years as Archivist, Museum Director and Historian at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. She is a native Californian and a graduate of Occidental College. She also studied at CSUN, USC, UCLA, Glendale College and Trinity College, Ireland. Her work appeared in Psychopoetica (UK), Chupa Rosa Diaries of the Chupa Rosa Writers, Sunland (2001-2003), Glendale College’s Eclipse anthologies, two Moonrise Press anthologies, Chopin with Cherries (2010) and Meditations on Divine Names (2012), and Sometimes in the Open, a collection of verse by California Poets Laureate. She published Sad with Cinnamon, Mint Leaves, and Bent Grass (all in 2001), as well as Riddle in the Rain with Dorothy Skiles, and a stack of chapbooks for friends and family. Marlene also co-edited, with Maja Trochimczyk, the We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (September 2020) celebrating the 10th anniversary of Village Poets Reading at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA. More...
Clocks and Water Drops: ISBN 978-0-9819693-5-0, 118 pages, $15.00, paperback
We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology: ISBN 978-1-945938-39-9 (paperback) , $22
ISBN 978-1-945938-40-5 (eBook, ePub), $10
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Marlene Hitt is a Los Angeles poet, writer and retired educator with local history as an avocation. She has served for many years as Archivist, Museum Director and Historian at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. She is a native Californian and a graduate of Occidental College. She also studied at CSUN, USC, UCLA, Glendale College and Trinity College, Ireland. Her work appeared in Psychopoetica (UK), Chupa Rosa Diaries of the Chupa Rosa Writers, Sunland (2001-2003), Glendale College’s Eclipse anthologies, two Moonrise Press anthologies, Chopin with Cherries (2010) and Meditations on Divine Names (2012), and Sometimes in the Open, a collection of verse by California Poets Laureate. She published Sad with Cinnamon, Mint Leaves, and Bent Grass (all in 2001), as well as Riddle in the Rain with Dorothy Skiles, and a stack of chapbooks for friends and family. Marlene also co-edited, with Maja Trochimczyk, the We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (September 2020) celebrating the 10th anniversary of Village Poets Reading at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA. More...
Clocks and Water Drops: ISBN 978-0-9819693-5-0, 118 pages, $15.00, paperback
We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology: ISBN 978-1-945938-39-9 (paperback) , $22
ISBN 978-1-945938-40-5 (eBook, ePub), $10
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Dr. William Lloyd Hitt, author of The Earth Time, 2019
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Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D. - Publisher of Moonrise Press
Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D. (McGill’94), is a poet, music historian, and photographer born in Poland and living in California. She published eight books on music and Polish culture: After Chopin: Essays on Music, The Music of Louis Andriessen, Polish Dance in Southern California (2007), A Romantic Century in Polish Music (2009), Frederic Chopin: A Research and Information Guide (co-edited with William Smialek, Routledge 2015), The Lutoslawski Legacy (co-edited with Stanislaw Latek, 2014), Gorecki in Context: Essays on Music (2017), and Album 50-lecia Klubu Kultury im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej(co-edited with Elzbieta Kanski and Elzbieta Trybus, 2021). She is the author of seven volumes of poetry (Miriam’s Iris, 2008; Rose Always, 2008, rev. 2020; Slicing the Bread, 2014; The Rainy Bread, 2016, expanded and revised in 2021; Into Light: Poems and Incantations, 2016; Bright Skies, 2022, and Deszczowy Chleb, 2024). She also edited five poetry anthologies, Chopin with Cherries (2010), Meditations on Divine Names (2012), Grateful Conversations (2018, co-edited with Kathi Stafford), We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (2020, co-edited with Marlene Hitt) and Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy and Wisdom (2022). She also published 28 book chapters, 28 peer-reviewed articles, and hundreds of essays and poems that appeared in English, Polish, as well as in German, French, Chinese, Spanish and Serbian translations. A recipient of ACLS and SSRCC post-doctoral grants, and many honors for the promotion of Polish culture, she taught music history at the University of Southern California and ethics in jail. A Pushcart Prize nominee for poems from The Rainy Bread: More Poems from Exile (2021), she also received the 2016 Creative Arts Prize from the Polish American Historical Association for the first edition of this book (2016). She serves as President of California State Poetry Society, editor of the California Quarterly and Poetry Letter, and was the Sixth Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga in 2010-2012. In 2008, she founded Moonrise Press. More... or visit her blog, poetrylaurels.blogspot.com
Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D. (McGill’94), is a poet, music historian, and photographer born in Poland and living in California. She published eight books on music and Polish culture: After Chopin: Essays on Music, The Music of Louis Andriessen, Polish Dance in Southern California (2007), A Romantic Century in Polish Music (2009), Frederic Chopin: A Research and Information Guide (co-edited with William Smialek, Routledge 2015), The Lutoslawski Legacy (co-edited with Stanislaw Latek, 2014), Gorecki in Context: Essays on Music (2017), and Album 50-lecia Klubu Kultury im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej(co-edited with Elzbieta Kanski and Elzbieta Trybus, 2021). She is the author of seven volumes of poetry (Miriam’s Iris, 2008; Rose Always, 2008, rev. 2020; Slicing the Bread, 2014; The Rainy Bread, 2016, expanded and revised in 2021; Into Light: Poems and Incantations, 2016; Bright Skies, 2022, and Deszczowy Chleb, 2024). She also edited five poetry anthologies, Chopin with Cherries (2010), Meditations on Divine Names (2012), Grateful Conversations (2018, co-edited with Kathi Stafford), We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (2020, co-edited with Marlene Hitt) and Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy and Wisdom (2022). She also published 28 book chapters, 28 peer-reviewed articles, and hundreds of essays and poems that appeared in English, Polish, as well as in German, French, Chinese, Spanish and Serbian translations. A recipient of ACLS and SSRCC post-doctoral grants, and many honors for the promotion of Polish culture, she taught music history at the University of Southern California and ethics in jail. A Pushcart Prize nominee for poems from The Rainy Bread: More Poems from Exile (2021), she also received the 2016 Creative Arts Prize from the Polish American Historical Association for the first edition of this book (2016). She serves as President of California State Poetry Society, editor of the California Quarterly and Poetry Letter, and was the Sixth Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga in 2010-2012. In 2008, she founded Moonrise Press. More... or visit her blog, poetrylaurels.blogspot.com