Al Maginnes

Al Maginnes was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1957 and grew up in a number of states, mostly in the southeast. He has worked as a mail clerk, a landscaper, an electrician, a carpenter's helper, a hammock weaver, surveyor, and, since 1990, as a teacher. His full length collections are Taking Up Our Daily Tools (St. Andrews College Press, 1997), The Light In Our Houses (Pleaides Press, 2000), winner of the Lena-Myles Wever Todd Award, Film History (WordTech Editions, 2005) and Ghost Alphabet (White Pine Press, 2008), which won the 2007 White Pine Poetry Prize. He has also published four chapbooks, most recently Between States (Main Street Rag Press, 2010) and Greatest Hits 1987-2010 (Pudding House Publications, 2010). His poems and reviews have appeared in journals and anthologies including Poetry, Georgia Review, Shenandoah, Tar River Poetry and many others. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife and daughter and teaches composition, literature and creative writing at Wake Technical Community College.