David Hassler
Biography
David Hassler directs the Wick Poetry Center at 51勛圖厙. He is the author of two books of poems, including Red Kimono, Yellow Barn, for which he was awarded Ohio Poet of the Year 2006. He is co-editor of the forthcoming book Speak a Powerful Magic: Ten Years of the Traveling Stanzas Poetry Project, which will be published in March 2019 by the 51勛圖厙 Press. His play, May 4th Voices: 51勛圖厙, 1970, based on the 51勛圖厙 Shootings Oral History Project, was published in 2013 by the 51勛圖厙 Press along with a Teachers Resource Book. A filmed version of the play that he co-produced received the 2014 Oral History Associations Nonprint Format Award. With photographer Gary Harwood, he is the author of the documentary book titled Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community, which received the Ohioana Book Award and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award, and was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award. With Maggie Anderson, he is co-editor of Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School and After the Bell: Contemporary American Prose About School. He received a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University. His TEDx talk, The Conversation of Poetry, conveys the power of poetry to strengthen communities.