William F. DeVault

US National Beat Poet Laureate 2017-2018

Romantic Poet of the Internet (Yahoo!, 1996)

Author of 30,000+ poems, 30 books, 5 spoken word CDs

A 1973 graduate of Morgantown High School, William F. DeVault basked (just kidding) in his reputation of being “difficult” for publishers and editors alike (an attempt to include him in a high school literary magazine ended with him publicly requesting the return of the poem from his English teacher; a school newspaper editor’s “editing” of a poem resulted in his demanding they run it as written or not run it at all (they chose not to run it); a book deal in the late 1970’s ran aground when the New York based publisher wanted to assign an editor to the book and he refused. He once upbraided a coffeehouse audience for polite applause while not seeming to pay attention.) Don’t worry, he’s mellowed a little over the years.

He's been banned in a Catholic girl’s school in Ireland, investigated as a possible holy man by one religious group, continued to write almost constantly, judged regional and state finals for Poetry Out Loud, and turned down an offer to ghostwrite a Hollywood actor’s autobiography.

In 2005, the Appalachian Education Initiative included him in “Art & Soul”, a coffee table book of 50 notable creative artists educated in West Virginia (one of 4 from Morgantown High School).

In 2017 he was offered, and accepted, the opportunity to be CEO of Venetian Spider Press, conditional to them taking on a seven (or more) book project. His 5th of the series, “EROica” came out in February 2023. He continues to work in the private sector, as well.

He has collaborated with European hardcore composer/performer Ophidian on several pieces, one of which, “Nightfall Angel” went to #1 on the European Hardcore/Industrial charts.

He performed, on his podcast, a sanctioned (with permission from Allen Ginsberg's estate) reading of "Howl" in 2015.