Established in 1980 The Valley Contemporary Poets is a non-profit group, committed to the cultivation and advancement of poetry. Now in its 21st year, the VCP continues to produce readings and events with prominent, highly acclaimed poets and to nurture, encourage and develop fresh voices. The current directors are: Brendan Constantine, Amelie Frank, Elizabeth Iannaci and Richard Modiano.

We host quarterly readings at the Encino Community Center, presenting outstanding artists to enthusiastic crowds. The VCP offers to the community access to high calibre poetry and publications, and are planning a number of upcoming workshops with notable poets.

We have published five anthologies of work: Beyond the Valley of the Contemporay Poets 96, 97, 98, 99, and 2000, as well as several other chapbooks by writers such as Tim Seibles, Matthew Niblock, Jamie O'Halloran, Amelie Frank and Jim Natal.

In addition, on the third Tuesday of each month The VCP brings s a well-known featured reader to the long running Cobalt Cafe open reading series in Canoga Park, in our continuing effort to support and foster newer poets throughout the community.

Brendan Constantine (e-mail)
Brendan Constantine has been writing poetry and fiction for most of his life. A director with The Valley Contemporary Poets and a supporter of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, Brendan enjoys an active role in the Los Angeles poetry community. A nationally published poet, he is the author of two collections of poetry Antenna and RETURNTOIKNOWEXACTLYWHATYOUMEANSVILLE and his work has appeared in numerous local magazines and journals. He lives in Hollywood where he cuts his own hair.

Amélie Frank (e-mail)
Amélie Frank, active in the Los Angeles poetry community since 1990, has a B.A. in Creative Writing from U.C. Irvine. In 1994, she and poet Matthew Niblock co-founded The Sacred Beverage Press, producing the acclaimed literary journal "Blue Satellite," as well as critically praised poetry collections by The Carma Bums, FrancEyE, Ellyn Maybe, Erica Erdman, Richard Osborn Hood, Nelson Gary, Rick Lupert, and Jeanette Marie Clough. Amélie's poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, including Caffeine, Red Dancefloor, The Moment, Sic, Sabado Gigante, fts, Dance of the Iguana, and others. She is the author of four books: A Resilient Heart and Other Visceral Comforts (self-published), Flame and Loss of Breath (The Inevitable Press), Drink Me (with Matthew Niblock, VCPress), and Bird Interpretations (with Michael Paul, Cassowary Press). She cohosts the notorious Poetry in Exile series (with Richard Modiano) at Exile Books and Music in Sherman Oaks (home of the Weird-Ass Prizes for open readers). Her features throughout Southern California are too numerous to list, but most recently she was presented by Beyond Baroque and the Los Angeles Poetry Festival as one of the Newer Poets of Los Angeles. She has served as a judge for the Poetry Super Highway contest and for the MTV Spoken Word finals for Los Angeles. Her book reviews have appeared in Next . . . Magazine and Sicviceverse, and most recently she edited Nelson Gary's hot-selling memoir, "A Wonderful Life in Our Lives" (Low Profile Press).

Elizabeth Iannaci (e-mail)
Elizabeth Iannaci has been a regular of the Los Angeles theatre and performance community for over two decades. Currently, she is pleased to serve as one of the co-directors of The Valley Contemporary Poets. Her first book of poetry Passion’s Casualties, (Fate's Creation Press) was recently published. Her work has appeared in the television series “Ghost Stories” and on “American Freeway” for FM Yokohama. A founding member of the award-winning theatre company The Wilton Project, her critically acclaimed solo show “O Beautiful Doll” ran in Los Angeles for almost a year. She has performed in scores of venues in the Southern California area, some of which are still in existence. She is kind to animals and has a horror of men who wear their hats in the house. You would like her.

Richard Modiano (e-mail)
1967-68 started study of American poetry from Colonial era to late 19th century, with special attention to post-Whitman developments & democratization of poetry with introduction of open form & demotic speech as alternative to closed form & elite language. By college entrance discovered & was encouraged by Imagist & Objectivist poetics of direct treatment of the thing itself (whether subjective or objective), freedom of subject matter, hard & clear expression to scribble a few pieces to test understanding.

Later mid-1970s studied Olson's Projective Verse poetic of composition by field and that the poem is energy transferred. Also attended Allen Ginsberg's workshop at NYC Dharmadhatu 1976 & got introduced to Asian poetics via Japanese haiku & tanka forms, and got the benefit of Ginsberg's synthesis of Objectivist school, Projective verse, classical Japanese poetics, Spontaneous Bop Prosody & First Thought Best Thought. Wrote a few more pieces with better understanding of the lineage & edited friends' works starting then.

1980s deepened interest in Japanese aesthetics & learned Japanese language & was consultant-editor for Subterranean Press. Early '90s started translating from Japanese to English, wrote terser Japanese-influenced pieces. Translations & original works published here & there in Blue Satellite, FTS, & Sun Flowers & Locomotives.