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VOLUSIA COUNTY POET LAUREATE, DR. DAVID B. AXELROD
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MY NEWEST (AND 23rd) BOOK OF POEMS
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Dr. David B. Axelrod…
…is a Volusia County Poet Laureate, appointed to serve for a total of 8 years (2015 to 2023). He lives in Daytona Beach, where he is also founder and director of the Creative Happiness Institute, Inc. (CHI), a not-for-profit, educational organization that offers literary and cultural programs to the public.
As an author and sponsor of international writers’ programs covering dozens of countries and nearly forty languages, he has performed and taught in England and Ireland, France, Italy and Sicily, Austria, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Hong Kong and throughout the People’s Republic of China. Himself a student of ten languages, author of twenty-three books of poetry including All Vows: New & Selected Poems. The newest. entitled Mother Tongue, is schedule to be published in 2021.
He is the winner of a Florida Book Award Gold Medal and a national Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) award for his non-fiction biography of Merlin Stone Remembered , as well as publishing literally hundreds of articles. His work has been translated and published in numerous languages including Albanian and Bulgarian, Chinese and Japanese, Hebrew and Yiddish, Italian and Sicilian, Greek and Macedonian, Russian and Romanian, French and Creole, Spanish and Portuguese, German and Dutch among others!
Dr. Axelrod, earlier, served as Suffolk County, Long Island, Poet Laureate and has entered record books as the only American to receive two back-to-back Fulbright Awards in separate areas, as poet-in-residence in Yugoslavia and then professor of American Literature in Macedonia. With his third Fulbright, he became the first poet to be formally acknowledged as American Poet in Residence in the People’s Republic of China. There, he also assisted in establishing an American Center, served as Warden of Foreign Nationals for Guangzhou, taught media and literature, and lectured in six provinces.
Dr. Axelrod holds his Ph.D. from Union Institute in Academic Program Design and Administration, granted for his establishing the not-for-profit writers services, Writers Unlimited Agency, Inc., as well as Writers Ink Press. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers Workshops; a Master of Arts degree in poetry from The Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Massachusetts.
Dr. Axelrod has received grants for literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of writing, arts and service projects including funding from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council for the Arts; County of Suffolk; Volusia County, State of Virginia; Towns of Brookhaven, Westhampton and Riverhead; America the Beautiful Foundation; International Paper Company; Wal-Mart Good Works grants program; State University of New York Research Division and Board of Education Cooperative Services among many others. Most recently, CHI received funding from the Cultural Council of Volusia County.
He is the founder and publisher of Writers Ink Press, a not-for-profit alternative publisher of arts editions now under the aegis of Creative Happiness Institute.
Dr. Axelrod’s own Curriculum Vita enumerates nearly twenty pages of education, artistic and administrative accomplishments.
I would be happy to hear from you!
- Happy to serve Volusia County’s cultural needs.
- Available for readings and workshops
- The Healing Power of Writing
- Freelance editing and writing
My personal email address: axelrodthepoet@yahoo.com
ANNOUNCING MY NEWEST (AND 23rd) BOOK OF POEMS
Readings and book parties featuring Dr. Axelrod
Ormond Art Museum. May 18, 10:30 a.m.
Please join us for a special poetry reading with David B. Axelrod in the beautiful OMAM Garden Gazebo. The Volusia County Poet Laureate will read selections from his new book, Mother Tongue. This volume of all-new poems cover a range of topics from family to local flora and fauna.
Sundown Poetry Series, Piccolo Spoleto, Charleston, SC. June 8
Book Series at Gibbes Museum of Art, Lenhardt Garden, 135 Meeting Street Tuesday – Friday, June 1 – June 11, 2021 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Free, but seating is limited.
Main Street Station, Open Mic and Book Party, Sunday, July 11, 1 to 4 p.m.
Details to follow but save the date!
CLICK ON THIS LINK to order your copy:
MOTHER TONGUE by David B. Axelrod | eBay
Reading David B. Axelrod’s new collection, Mother Tongue, I was struck by its ease and simplicity of tone and language. I love how the eyes glide over the lines while at the same time my heart and mind are enraptured by the narrative. These poems are compelling. ” —Lenny DellaRocca, Founder, co-Publisher, South Florida Poetry Journal
Years of Praise for David B. Axelrod
“Approachable, wise, and witty poems.” — Peter Meinke, Poet Laureate of Florida
“Honest, personal, yet universal poetry.” — Barry Wallenstein, Author of Drastic Dislocations, New & Selected Poems.
“His poems tend to speak openly of what matters the most to him—love and wit.” — Lola Haskins, twice Florida Book Awards winner, and Emily Dickenson Prize winner.
“One of the finest and most original American poets now writing.” — X. J. Kennedy, Frost Medal for Lifetime Service
“The truth of his poetry is like life itself “—compelling. — Louis Simpson, Pulitzer Prize
“[Poems to] cherish and pass around …a prize to keep.” — William Stafford, National Book Award
“Axelrod is a treat.” — The New York Times
ALL VOWS: NEW & SELECTED POEMS by David B. Axelrod