Neeli Cherkovski was born in Santa Monica, CA. He attended California State University, Los Angeles and Hebrew Union College. His poetry and prose has been published in many languages and he often reads his writing in Europe and Mexico. Author of over thirty books of poetry, his most recent books include, ELEGY FOR MY BEAT GENERATION (Lithic Press, 2018), COOLIDGE & CHERKOVSKI: IN CONVERSATION (Lithic Press, 2020), HANG ON TO THE YANGTZE RIVER (Lithic Press, 2020), and a Bicentennial edition of Bukowski: A Life. He lives in San Francisco with Jesse Cabrera.