LAWRENCE WELSH

Welcome:

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Lawrence Welsh first hitchhiked to New Mexico and Texas in 1989. Five years later, he moved to El Paso, where he still lives.

A first generation Irish American and former award-winning journalist, Welsh has published eight books of poetry, including Begging for Vultures: New and Selected Poems, 1994-2009 (University of New Mexico Press, 2011).

A winner of the Bardsong Press Celtic Voice Writing Award in Poetry, Welsh is an associate professor of English at El Paso Community College. He’s married to Lisa McNiel, a professor and poet, and they have two young children, Megan and Patrick. Welsh’s journalism awards include the Society of Professional Journalists Bill Farr Reporting Award, the Copley Los Angeles Newspapers Award, and the Women in Communications Endowment Award.

In 2011, Irish America Magazine in New York City named him one of the “Top 100 Irish Americans” of the year. In 1979, he co-founded The Alcoholics, the L.A. punk rock band. Artifix Records of Southern California will soon release East of Sepulveda: 1979-1982, a retrospective of the band’s studio and life cuts.

Publications List:

Lawrence Welsh’s poetry, fiction, reviews, essays, as well as journalistic writings, have appeared in more than 200 national and regional magazines, journals and anthologies, including Puerto del Sol, Hawaii Review, The Louisiana Review, Rio Grande Review, The Texas Observer, The Los Angeles Daily Breeze, The Wormwood Review, Onthebus, Pearl, Poetry Now, Big Bridge, The Café Review, Nexus, Chiron Review and the book Das Ist Alles – Charles Bukowski Recollected.

Poetry:

Begging for Vultures: New and Selected Poems, 1994-2009, University of New Mexico Press, 2011
Lawrence Welsh Reads, Vox Audio, 2011 (CD)
Carney Takedown, Unlikely Books, 2010
Todd Moore and Lawrence Welsh Read at Acequia Booksellers, Vox Audio, 2009 (CD)
Skull Highway, La Alameda Press, 2008
Walking Backwards to Santa Fe,
Pitchfork Press, 2007
Believing in Bonfires, Pitchfork Press, 2003
New Shouts at Broken Dreams, Lummox Press, 2001
Rusted Steel and Bordertown Starts, Sundance Press, 1999
Lenny Bruce in El Paso, Non Compos Mentis Press, 1997