Paul Fericano

San Francisco native Paul Fericano (born January 16, 1951) is a U.S. poet, writer, and satirist. For more than thirty years his stand-up poetry and controversial satires have been brought to the public's attention mostly through the dedicated efforts of independent publishers and a loyal group of readers.

From 1974 to 2005 he was editor/publisher of "Scarecrow Books" and "Poor Souls Press". In 1976 he launched the mock movement, "Stoogism," satirizing the pretensions of all literary schools. Ironically, "Stoogism" was later embraced by other poets and writers, including Allen Ginsberg, [http://homepage.mac.com/garyligi/iblog/ Elio Ligi,] Joyce Odam, Peter Cherches, Charles Bukowski, A.D. Winans, Ronald Koertge, [http://www.richardgrayson.com Richard Grayson,] Ann Menebroker, Don Skiles and Gerald Locklin. In 1977 Fericano edited "Stoogism Anthology", both a rare colflection of satiric work by 47 writers, and a unique poetry and film tribute to "The Three Stooges" comedy team.

In 1978, one of his poems, "The Three Stooges at a Hollywood Party," from his book, "Loading the Revolver with Real Bullets," provoked outrage in some Republican members of the California State legislature who claimed the poem libeled actor John Wayne. The book was funded in part by a state arts grant and lawmakers used this as a reason for denying Jane Fonda's appointment at the time to the California Arts Council.

In response to Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 and the growing conservative movement, Fericano co-founded (with Elio Ligi) the first parody news and disinformation syndicate, Yossarian Universal News Service (YU), which the Los Angeles Times dubbed, "unbelievable news for unbelievable times." As a media content provider with subscribers as diverse as "Saturday Night Live", "Punch" (London), "Mother Jones", "La Prensa" (Managua), and "Paul Krassner's The Realist", [http://www.yunews.com YU News Service] quickly became the ideal counterpoint to Reagan's "Great Communicator."

In 1982, as a commentary on the absurd nature of all competitive awards, Fericano perpetrated a successful hoax on the literary community, specifically "Poets & Writers, Inc." of New York, when he awarded his own poem, Sinatra, Sinatra, the fictitious "Howitzer Prize." Nearly 500 writers and publishers requested applications from the bogus Howitzer Prize Committee for the 1983 prize before the author exposed the hoax. During George W. Bush's first year in office in 2001, Fericano chronicled the president's lies and blunders in weekly "YU News Service" dispatches emailed to thousands of subscribers all over the world. Three days after 9/11 he identified Bush's crusade against terrorism as his "re-election campaign war." In 2002-2003, at the height of the president's popularity, a collection of these stories, "I, Terrorist: Dispatches from the Front," was rejected by more than 20 U.S. book agents and publishers.

Fericano continues to use "YU News Service" as a vehicle for his social and political satires, and since June 2004 he's been writing and performing for radio "(The One Minute News Hour)" with fellow satirist and broadcaster Mike Amatori.

Books and Publications by Paul Fericano

*"I Played Fifth Chair Trombone," So. San Francisco, CA: Greydog Press, 1974.
*"Beneath the Smoke Rings," Geneseo, NY: Dithyramb Poetry Series, 1976.
*"Cancer Quiz," Millbrae, CA: Scarecrow Books, 1977.
*"Loading the Revolver with Real Bullets," San Francisco: Second Coming Press, 1977.
*"Stoogism Anthology," (Editor) Millbrae, CA: Scarecrow Books, 1977.
*"Driving to Reno with Freud," Oakland, CA: Malignant Press, 1978.
*"The Answer," Broderick, CA: Hearthstone Press, 1979.
*"The Condition of Poetry in the Modern World: A Stoogist Manifesto," Millbrae, CA: Poor Souls Press, 1980.
*"The Ventriloquist," Seattle: Cold Creek Books, 1981.
*"The Dummy," Seattle: Cold Creek Books, 1982.
*"," Millbrae, CA: Poor Souls Press, 1982.
*"Commercial Break," Millbrae, CA: Poor Souls Press, 1982.
*"My Lover, Benito Mussolini, and Other Stories My Grandmother Made Up," San Diego: Pocket House Publications, 1984.
*"The One Minute President" (with Elio Ligi), Millbrae, CA/Munich, Germany: Poor Souls Press/Stroessner Verlag, 1986.
*"Don't Look Now, but I Think We're About to be Killed," Walnut Creek, CA: Erehwon Books, 1989.
*"The Best of Yossarian Universal," (Editor) Millbrae, CA: YU News Service, 1992.
*"Interview with the Scalia," Washington, DC: Peabody Press, 1995.
*"More of the Best of Yossarian Universal," (Editor) Millbrae, CA: YU News Service, 1999.
*"The Night I Dreamed I Gave the Commencement Address at Harvard Law School," San Francisco: First Gone Press, 2002.
*"The Worst of Yossarian Universal," (Editor) Millbrae, CA: YU News Service, 2004.
*"I, Terrorist: Dispatches from the Front," (Forthcoming, 2006)

External links

* [http://www.yunews.com YU News Service]
* [http://www.zmag.org/interactive/content/index.cfm ZNet Interactive]
* [http://homepage.mac.com/garyligi/iblog/C1077783036/index.html The One Minute President]