Nathan Brown is a poet, musician, photographer, or problem... depending on who's talking. His mission is to take back poetry from the hard, academic grip of the ivory tower and the brooding, beret-sporting-village-types who all too often use poetry for personal therapy and the excorsism of parental issues... both being good reasons audiences for poetry have run for the hills in the United States. Nathan travels widely--without the aid of maps--offering readings, creativity workshops, and photography exhibitions in an effort to bring back the hint of a smile and the hope for a good story in poems... poems unafraid of making sense... poems that carry us to better places. He's published four books of poetry: Hobson's Choice (2002); Ashes over the Southwest (2005); Suffer the Little Voices (2005--a finalist for the 2006 Oklahoma Book Award); and just this last December, his new book from Mongrel Empire Press, Not Exactly Job (2007--a finalist for the 2008 Oklahoma Book Award). He worked as a professional songwriter and musician for fifteen years in and around Oklahoma City, Nashville, and Austin. He has also performed in Israel and Russia, and worked with artists like Cynthia Clawson, Billy Crockett, Michael Johnson, and Tom Wopat. He's recorded five of his own albums. The two most recent are "Why in the Road" and "Driftin' Away." Nathan holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Creative and Professional Writing from the University of Oklahoma. He currently teaches for the Human Relations and Liberal Studies departments at the University of Oklahoma and has also served as the Artist-in-Residence at the University of Central Oklahoma. In his spare time, he conducts careful and methodical research on which restaurants actually do make the more "perfect" Perfect Margarita, and watches Northern Exposure reruns. To book a reading or workshop, contact Ashley Stanberry at: nub@mongrelempire.org