Joan Jobe Smith, Pushcart honoree and Forward Prize finalist, was born in Paris, Texas in 1940. Since age 10, her poetry, prose, art, reviews, essays, and cooking columns have appeared internationally in more than 1000 publications—including a billboard. Founding editor of literary journals Pearl and Bukowski Review, she received her BA from California State University Long Beach and Master of Fine Arts from University of California Irvine after working 7 years as a go- go girl. With her husband, poet Fred Voss, she has toured the UK 7 times reading her poetry, debuting at Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 1991 and in 2017 appeared at the Hull City of Culture Literary Festival. She lives in Long Beach, California, 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean.