Stephen Sossaman is a writer, speaker, teacher, and teacher-trainer. He is Professor Emeritus of English on the faculty of Westfield State University in Massachusetts, where he taught creative writing and literature for many years.
He retired early to spend more time writing. After time in Virginia, San Francisco, and New York City, he lived in Napa, California, where he was appointed to the Napa County Arts and Culture Advisory Committee, and was a judge for three years in Napa’s Poets Out Loud competition. Then a year in West Hollywood. He now lives in Burbank, California.
Recent news
Magnolia Arts Center has accepted What if We Did for its 2021 short play program.
Asses of Parnassus has published three of his epigrams.
The Road Not Taken published his ekphrastic poem “The Princess and the Prince” in its Summer 2020 issue.
His short story “After Breakfast” has been accepted for the 42 Stories Anthology.
Sheepshead Review published his poem “Night Calls in the Knife Drawer“ in its most recent issue.
His short play Hello Hello was performed in the 2019-2020 season of Senior Theater Acting Repertory (STAR) in Queens, New York.
Metonym at William Jessup University published two of his poems. Here is one.
The Viet Nam Literature Project published his review of Alan Farrell’s book of poems from his time in Viet Nam, Expended Casings, available here.
His interview of Randy Brown, a poet and key figure in the veterans’ writing movement, was originally published by Live Oak Review, and is now available here.
And Job Lies in the Feedlot Where He Fell
His long-poem book And Job Lies in the Feedlot Where He Fell is spoken by Job’s dying wife to the itinerant poet who would later write The Book of Job, leaving her out, and substituting his own beliefs for hers.
Merv Kaufman says “I love the poem and marvel at its language, its earthiness. The imagery propelled me through it. Just brilliant.”