John Brandi is a poet, painter, essayist, ardent world traveler, and haijin. John Brandi grew up exploring California's Sierra Nevada mountains and the Big Sur coast. After receiving a BA in art and anthropology, he joined the Peace Corps, worked with Andean farmers, held odd jobs in Mexico, drove a truck in Alaska, pruned vineyards north of San Francisco and lived in a miner's shack above the Yuba River. In 1971 he moved to New Mexico, built a cabin in a remote canyon, raised two children and began teaching as a poet in the schools. His numerous books of poetry, travel essays, and haiku have earned him a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, the White Pine World of Voices Poetry Award, and several teaching grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry.
