John Curl

"I spent my childhood winters in the dirty snow lining the streets of Manhattan and my childhood summers in a New Jersey pine forest. A war baby of World War II, in my veins Irish-Catholic and English-Protestant blood mixed with Romanian-Austrian Jewish. One grandfather was a Republican, the other a Communist, and my parents were New Deal Democrats. I'm a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and New York City College (CCNY). In Mayan astrology I'm a Wukub (7) Ajpu; in Western astrology I'm a Virgo Grand Trine.

"I have published fiction, poetry, essays and history in numerous magazines and periodicals over the last three decades. I'm a board member of PEN USA West and PEN Oakland, affiliated with International PEN. I have worked in social justice movements all my adult life. I've lived in California since 1971, and reside with my wife Jill in Berkeley, where I also do custom woodworking. We have a grown daughter. I was a City of Berkeley planning commissioner for 2-1/2 years. I am current chair of West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies, an organization that represents the industrial and arts community in West Berkeley. I've been a member of the Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day Committee since it's inception in 1991, working on the annual pow wow."

John Curl has been a member of Heartwood Cooperative Woodshop in Berkeley for over thirty years, and has belonged to numerous other cooperatives and collectives.

His web site is http://red-coral.net