Here's some info from the bookfest web site:
Ravi Shankar is Associate Professor and Poet-in-Residence at Central Connecticut State University and the founding editor of Drunken Boat, the international online journal of the arts, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. He has published a book of poems, Instrumentality (Cherry Grove). Ravi was named a finalist for the 2005 Connecticut Book Awards, and with Reb Livingston, collaborated on a chapbook, Wanton Textiles (No Tell Books, 2006). He currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Connecticut Center for the Book. Ravi reviews poetry for the Contemporary Poetry Review and along with Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal, he edited Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond (W.W Norton & Co.) , which was called “a beautiful achievement for world literature” by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer.
Ravi is a recipient of a Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (CCT) FY09 fellowship in Poetry. He also was a winner of a Puschart Prize in poetry, and has received fellowships from Breadloaf, the MacDowell Colony, and the Blue Mountain Center. He has served as a commentator on National Public Radio as well as the BBC. He has two chapbooks of poetry coming out in 2010, including a collaboration with late American artist Sol LeWitt: Seamless Matter (Rain Taxi) and Voluptuous Bristle (Finishing Line).
Ravi's recent book of poems, Deepening Groove, won the 2010 National Poetry Review Prize and will be published in 2011. He is currently on the faculty of Eastern Mediterranean University, the Stonecoast Writers Conference and the first international MFA program in Creative Writing at City University of Hong Kong. He has performed his work around the world, including the Asia Society, PEN India, St. Mark's Poetry Project and the National Arts Club.
