Elena Karina Byrne is a teacher, editor, visual artist, Poetry Moderator and Consultant for the LA Times Festival of Books, and former 12 yr. Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America. She is the Ruskin Art Club's Literary Programs Director. She also programs events for USC, the J. Paul Getty Center and MOCA. She is working with Red Car Studios on a poetry/film project. Recent publications include Best American Poetry 2005, TriQuarterly, APR, Paris Review, Yale Review, Verse, Volt, Poetry, Nimrod, Chelsea, Prairie Schooner, and The Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry. The Flammable Bird is available from Zoo Press. She just completed two others, Masque and Voyuer Hour; a collection of essays, Poetry and Insignificance, is in progress.