Charles Cantalupo

Charles Cantalupo, Professor Emeritus of English, Comparative Literature, and African Studies at Penn State, is an active contributor to various literary journals, co-author of the Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literature, critic and translator of African writers from Eritrea; author of a personal memoir, Joining Africa, about his African experience, and a poet with several published anthologies.

Writing on the bellum omnium contra omnes or the Woodstock Nation, Charles Cantalupo has a literary trajectory that ranges from poems published in religious journals in the 1980s to experimental British and American literary journals in the 90s. Yet the year 2000 marked a new development for Cantalupo with his co-authoring of the historic Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures. Writing poetry and literary criticism about Africa and translating poets from Eritrea, Charles reached a much wider audience than before. This led to his memoir, Joining Africa: from Anthills to Asmara (2012) and returned Cantalupo as a poet to his own American experience. The subtitle of one of his subsequent books of poetry—Further Steps—could apply to all of his writing. Clooscape the Poet takes further steps. Charles Cantalupo is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English, Comparative Literature, and African Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. He lives in Eastport, Maine.

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