Larry Smith grew up in the industrial Ohio River Valley and graduated from Muskingum College and Kent State University with a doctorate in literature. He has taught at Bowling Greeen State University's Firelands College for over 35 years and is the author of 8 books of poetry, 4 books of fiction, and two literary biographies on Kenneth Patchen and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He has written film scripts for "James Wright's Ohio" and "Kenneth Patchen: An Art of Engagement" and is director of Bottom Dog Press/ Bird Dog Publishing in Ohio. He reviews for New York Journal of Books.