Robert Peebles Arthur is a poet, a novelist, a short story writer, a playwright, a critic, a director, and a professor. He has written and published over twenty books and plays and 1,500 articles on the arts. A finalist for Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2008 and 2010, he remains best known for his book of poems, Hymn to the Chesapeake, the best-selling book in the history of Road Publishers. Eleven of his plays have been pegged "poem-plays," a genre possibly created by Arthur. Additionally, Arthur has founded two national literary journals: BlackWater Review and Lady Jane's Miscellany" in 2009. In 2002, he founded Poetry in Performance,a touring poetry group that starred Lisa Neely, Amber Wood, Sunday Abbott, Jeff Hewitt, and D.D. Delaney. "Poetry in Performance" has featured the music of internationally known singers and performers Gordon Bok, Andy Stewart, and Bob Zentz, as well as the new works of the Blue Marsh Band and the poetry of Virginia Poets Laureate Claudia Emerson and Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda. In 2005, he founded San Francisco Bay Press with Jeff Hewitt and his daughter, Hannah, who is Editor-in-Chief. [More at Wikipedia]

October 5th, 1943 in Norfolk (Age 81)