Bio
As a teen, Alice Shapiro wrote plays for her siblings to act out in the backyard for neighbors. Her writing was set aside by an interest in visual art, and the not-so-creative role of earning a living. Not until 1986 at the age of 40, after a failed side-career in painting and a divorce, did Shapiro dream to write again. Without the financial ability to attend university, she enrolled in a writing workshop that covered many genres and which reinforced her inclination towards writing plays, and poetry. Shapiro then took several classes with one of the workshop instructors, the renowned poet and playwright William Packard, who also founded the New York Quarterly literary journal, to complete her formal education in poetry and playwriting. Her first one-act, verse play, FOUR VOICES received the Bill C. Davis Drama Award and was produced by Apple Blossom Productions, Poughkeepsie, NY in 1988. Shapiro also published several poems in anthologies and received third prize in Poetry Connoisseur’s Summernationals.
In 1991, a mere 5 years later, Shapiro stopped writing. Life’s unexpected turns took her spiraling downward until 2005 when she was 59 and ready to dream again.
As a teen, Alice Shapiro wrote plays for her siblings to act out in the backyard for neighbors. Her writing was set aside by an interest in visual art, and the not-
In 1991, a mere 5 years later, Shapiro stopped writing. Life’s unexpected turns took her spiraling downward until 2005 when she was 59 and ready to dream again.
· Alice Shapiro’s first collection of poems, CRACKED Timeless Topics of Nature, Courage and Endurance, was published by TotalRecall Press (2009) with a preface by Suffolk L.I. Poet Laureate David Axelrod, and was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize and a GAYA Award (Georgia Author of the Year).
· A second volume, LIFE Descending / Ascending, was released September 2010, and a third volume , Saltian ,will be released in October 2011.
· She is author of a chapbook, Seasons of the Heart published by Scars Publications (2007).
· Traditional Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) incidental music was composed for her verse play (Four Voices) which will be performed at the Cultural Art Center’s Turner Cassity Literary Festival July 2011.
· She was judge for Poetry Out Loud 2010 and 2011 at the regional level.
· She was Volunteer Rehearsal Space Coordinator for the 11th Annual Estrogenius Theatre Festival – September/October 2010.
· She is on the Planning Board for the Cultural Arts Center’s Turner Cassity Literary Festival to be held in July 2011.
