Neil De La Flor
Neil de la Flor is a writer, photographer, teacher and former fashion designer based in Miami, FL. His first book, Almost Dorothy (Marsh Hawk Press, 2010), won the Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize. Forrest Gander writes, “Almost Dorothy is the red-headed stepchild of Antony (without the Johnsons) and Jean Cocteau. Infusing poetry with theater, Neil de la Flor is at once bitingly original, funny, and uncompromising." Marsh Hawk Press will publish de la Flor’s second solo collection, An Elephant’s Memory of Blizzards (April 2013), which has nothing to do with elephants or the memory or blizzards, but has everything to do with an elephant’s memory of blizzards.
Julie Marie Wade writes of An Elephant’s Memory of Blizzards, “The currency of these poems is sensory and extra-sensory. They have electric blue eyes and readily self-personify.They shape-shift and spontaneously combust. They speak to us in ‘the awe-/some language of hairdo.’ I can feel these poems on my skin like a blush. I can hold them between my teeth like pearls.” Read the full review here.
de la Flor has authored three collaborative books (with his favorite superheroes Maureen Seaton & Kristine Snodgrass) Sinead O'Connor and her Coat of a Thousand Bluebirds (Firewheel Editions, 2011), co-authored with Maureen Seaton and winner of the Sentence Book Award; Facial Geometry (NeoPepper Press, 2006), co-authored with Maureen Seaton and Kristine Snodgrass; and Two Thieves and a Liar (forthcoming, Jackleg Press, 2012), also co-authored with Maureen Seaton and Kristine Snodgrass.
In Sarah Burghauser's review of Sinead O'Connor and her Coat of a Thousand Bluebirds for Lambda Literary, she writes, “Lusty, swanky, and well-toned, these poems are playful without being light, and smart without being esoteric. Read this book to witness an inspiring dexterity with language. Read this book for a loving sucker-punch to the brain. Read this book in a place where it is okay to lol, or even to loofah.”
de la Flor’s stories and poems, solo and collaborative, have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Barrow Street, Pank, Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, Court Green, Best American Poetry Blog among other journals. He is also the performing arts journalist for KnightArts, the organizational arts blog maintained by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and contributes to Miami-based arts bureau, ArtBurstMiami.
de la Flor, along with Paula Kolek, won a $30,000 Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for their project “Reading Queer”. The goal of “Reading Queer” is to establish Miami as a center for LGBTIQ literature. Read more about the project here. de la Flor is also on the Board of Directors of The Center for Positive Connections, a South Florida non-profit that provides support, education and mental health services for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
His performing arts reviews and previews have appeared in The Miami Herald, The Miami New Times and The SunPost and his photography regularly appears in conjunction with his performance art reviews and previews. He earned an MFA at the University of Miami where he was a Michener Fellow. Neil lives in Miami and teaches composition and literature at Miami Dade College, Nova Southeastern University and Barry University. He wants to be a full time photographer and writer when he grows up, and plans to travel the world on a camel.
“You can’t herd the stars. You can only gaze at them, never touch, like love. Yes, you can ‘be’ in love and ‘fall’ in love, but you can never ‘touch’ love. You can only touch things that represent love, like a lover, or a book, or a lover’s book, or lovers in a book.”