Did You Kiss A Cat Today???

Jim Berger received his BA from Columbia University, and a PhD from Univ. of Virginia. Jim is a poet, teacher, and literary scholar. He taught 3rd grade students; he was a member of the Teachers and Writers Collaborative (New York,) teaching poetry writing in elementary schools. Currently he’s the Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English at Yale University. He has been awarded the prestigious Taft Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. Jim has published two academic monographs, four books of poems, and two odd collections of “manifestos.” Jim edited the book Helen Keller, The Story of My Life published by Random House, He was reviewed in The New Yorker, and the Women’s Review of Books. Diane Stevenson was born and raised on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Her mother’s family was among the first French settlers here. She secured an M.F.A. from Columbia University and was granted a graduate degree without an undergraduate degree. Next, she parlayed Columbia’s Ph.D. program in American literature and published The Beauty Shop Monologues, nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She's a Breadloaf Scholar and was listed in an early edition under “Outstanding Writers: Poets.” She taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Hobart and William Smith, and the University of Southern Mississippi. She's published poems and articles in The Nation, Boulevard, Pataphysics, Raritan, The Yale Review, Socialist Review, and The Mississippi Review. Her husband was the late great film critic and historian Gilberto Perez. Geri Lipschultz is the author of Grace Before the Fall, published this year by DarkWinter Press. Geri is so grateful to be one of three writers for the children’s book of poems Did You Kiss a Cat Today??? Her work appears in Pearson’s Literature: Introduction to Reading and Writing and in Spuyten Duyvil’s Wreckage of Reason II. Twice a Pushcart nominee, Geri has published in Terrain, The Rumpus, Ms., New York Times, the Toast, Black Warrior Review, College English, among others. She has an MFA from Iowa and a PhD from Ohio University and currently teaches at Borough of Manhattan Community College.  Her one-woman show was produced in NYC by Woodie King, Jr. She’s currently living in a cabin in the lower Adirondacks.

“Delightfully fun. . . . A collection of whimsical children’s poetry that expertly sneaks in moments of profound reflection.” —Kirkus Reviews“I love this book! It makes me want to be a child again, or to adopt my children again, or to borrow someone else’s child, or to read the poems to my dog and my cats. And why stop there? I want to read these poems to everyone I meet, because they are full of joy. Joy in language, joy in imagination, joy in mixing the ‘real’ and ‘fantasy’ worlds, joy in telling stories. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so much happiness in poem world. Even the monster under my bed will love hearing me read them out loud in the dark. Maybe then we’ll be friends.” —Susan M. Schultz, poet, critic, and publisher“The diversity of styles kept me involved, and I found myself reading the entire book in one sitting. The poems evoked a variety of sensations—feelings, memories, images, whimsy, and daydreams. They made me want to pick up canyons and draw, or pick up a pen and write. The poems are enjoyable to read alone for solo reflection, to read with a parent or friend, or to discuss in a classroom or library setting. May this wonderful collection spread far and wide, and tickle the imaginations of children.” —Janice Buckner, Certified Teacher and HS National Touring Children’s Performer: Song & Puppetry