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George Wallace
Award winning poet, musician, and educator, based in NYC and traveling worldwide.
About Me
George Wallace is a world-
traveling poet and New York City
native. He is writer in residence
at the Walt Whitman Birthplace,
author of 42 chapbooks and 5
spoken word albums (US,
UK, Italy, Greece, Macedonia,
Portugal, Saudi Arabia, India,
Spain). He is an award-winning
journalist and community activist,
former Peace Corps Volunteer,
and is known for his efforts
in support of communities of
poets across the US and abroad.
An adjunct professor of
English at Pace University, he is
founding editor of long-standing
poetry literary magazines in
print and online, including
Poetrybay, Polarity, Long Island
Quarterly, Walt’s Corner and
Radiopoet!que.
AWARDS & HONORS
Major poetry awards and honors
include Orpheus Prize (BG);
Alexander Prize, Aristotle
Medal (GR); Silk Road Prize, Boao
Poet of the Year, Beijing Poetry
Fim Festival (CN); Naim Frasheri
Laureateship (MK); Corona
d'Oro (AL); Naji Naaman Literary
Prize (LB).
Major festival appearances
include Medellin (CO), Ledbury
(GB), Aguacatan (GT); Lyric
Recovery/ Carnegie Hall,
What Saves Us/ Lincoln Center,
US Library of Congress,
Sapphofest, Woody
Guthrie Festival, Lowell
Celebrates Kerouac Festival,
Festival Ecstatique, Camp Casey,
Church of Beethoven, Bradstock,
and Howlfest (US).
APPEARANCES
In addition to worldwide
appearances at major performing
spaces in the UK (Robert Burns
Centre, Dylan Thomas Centre,
Words By The Water, Bolton/
Worktown, Swarthmoor Hall,
Brantwood, Brewery Arts Centre,
Maddy Prior Stone Barn) and
Europe (Avignon Theatre Festival,
Shakespeare & Company, Tivoli
Gardens, Piccolo Museo di Poesia,
Brunneberg Castle, Bageon/
Omonoia Circus), George has
been regular featured at popular
venues across the US (LA, SF, KC,
Cleveland, San Antonio, Taos,
Northampton, Woodstock,
Washington DC), and particularly
in his base of operations in NYC
(Five Spot, Bitter End, Poisson
Rouge, Bowery Poetry Club,
Nuyorican Cafe, Gathering of the
Tribes, Cornelia Street Cafe,
Jujomukti Lounge, Parkside
Lounge, Knitting Factory, Smalls
Jazz Club, West End Cafe).
Since 2018 he has been
recognized as Lifetime National
Beat Laureate and Next
Generation Beat (US), and his
work is housed at the Hofstra
University special collections
archives.
MUSICAL INFLUENCE
An award-winning musician in his
formative years, George could
read music and play keyboards at
the age of 4 and by the age of 18
had racked up performing
experiences in the New York tri-
state area as a vocalist, folk
guitarist and R&B keyboardist. In
the 60s he frequented jazz, folk
and blues clubs in Greenwich
Village. In recent years he has
performed onstage as a spoken
word vocalist at festivals and
performance venues worldwide;
shared the performance stage
with David Amram, Paul Winston,
Glen Moore, Leonard Lehrman,
Thurston Moore, Grant Hart, Bob
Feldman, Eric Person, Martin
Loyato, Jorn Swart; opened
for Joan Baez, Steve Earle,
Levon Helm, Marianne Faithfull,
and Donovan; and recorded with
Kevin Twigg, Tom Gould, Philip
Dragoumis, Bikithi Kumalo,
Tony Lamb, Alabaster DePlume,
Francesco Paolo Paladino,
Ana Spasic, Gianni Azzali, Rishiraj
Kulkarni. He has been influenced
by and worked with fellow
contemporary jazz/spoken
word poets John Sinclair, ML
Liebler, Steve Dalachinsky,
Emily XYZ, Ira Cohen, Andy
Clausen, Janine Pommy Vega,
Moe Seager and Kirpal Gordon,
among others.
EDUCATION
BA, Syracuse University; MPH,
UNC-Chapel Hill; MFA, Pacific
University; Honorary
Doctorate, CiESART/Royal
Academy of Spain.
