David E. Oprava

David E. Oprava
Born	22 April 1973 (1973-04-22) (age 38) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, poet, lecturer, painter

David E. Oprava (born April 22, 1973) is an expatriate American poet who lives and works in Wales in the United Kingdom. He is a writer, painter, lecturer, publisher and teacher. He states that he "writes because he has to", and he has chosen to, or is driven to, answer the question "why." He has been in over sixty journals online and in print and his first full-length book of poems VS. was released in October 2008 by Erbacce Press.^[1] He has additional full-length collections of poetry: American Means with American Mettle Books 2009, and his third, sole, with Blackheath Books 2010. He is also the founding editor and publisher of a small poetry press, Grievous Jones Press Ltd..^[2][3]

Early Years

^[4] Oprava was born in New York City, but moved to Pennsylvania in 1980 when he was seven. At fifteen Oprava began attending St. Paul's School boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire. He attended the School for International Training in Vermont and earned a B.A. in International Studies. During his undergraduate years, he also studied at Carleton College (USA) and Georg-August University (Goettingen, Germany). He completed his Masters in Political Science at Southern Connecticut State University and also studied at Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic).

During his school years he spent his summers at Waldsee. From 1990-97 Oprava worked at Waldsee as a counselor teaching German language and culture. In 1997-98, he was on the faculty at Minnesota State University (Bemidji, Minnesota).

Currently

Oprava has been an expatriate in the United Kingdom for more than a decade. His current academic project for doctoral work, Once America: 50 expats 50 Interviews 50 Poems is at Swansea University.^[5]

In 2008 Oprava founded the small poetry press, Grievous Jones Press Ltd., and continues as the presses publisher. Currently he is Poetry Lecturer at the Univ. of Wales Institute, Cardiff were he teaches poetry and publishing to undergraduates. He is a full member of the Poetry Society and the Poetry Book Society.^{[citation needed]}

List of Published Works

Books

• VS.Erbacce Press, 128 pages, perfect bound, October 2008 ISBN 978-1-906588-34-2
• American Means American Mettle Books, 96 pages, perfect bound, November 2009 ISBN 978-0-9562912-1-9
• sole Blackheath Books, 73 pages, perfect bound and hardback, September 2010 ISBN 978-1-906099-25-1
• Terraced Seren Books (forthcoming) Autumn 2013

Articles and poems

For complete list, see ^[6]

Readings

1. Sept. 2008 Featured Reader, SYNT Anthology at Foyles Bookstore, London, UK
2. Oct. 2008 VS. at the Bute Space Gallery, Cardiff, UK
3. Nov. 2008 VS. at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, UK
4. Nov. 2008 VS. at Borders Books, Cardiff, UK
5. Dec. 2008 Featured Reader, Space Studios Annual Festive Event, Cardiff, UK
6. Jan. 2009 Martyr at SPARKS reading series, Brighton, UK
7. Jan. 2009 Inaugural Poem read on BBC Radio Southern Counties
8. Feb. 2009 Featured Reader, Alchemy Reading Series, Prague, CZ
9. Feb. 2009 Featured Reader, Jane Crown Poetry Radio, radio interview
10. Feb. 2009 Featured Reader, The Crunch Poetry Series, Swansea, UK
11. Apr. 2009 Featured Reader at Miscellaneous, Cardiff, UK
12. Apr. 2009 Featured Reader, Epic Rites Radio, radio interview and reading
13. Apr. 2009 Featured Reader at The Recession Sessions-LIVE, London, UK
14. May 2009 Featured Reader on The Joe Milford Poetry Show, radio interview
15. July 2009 Featured Reader at the Fair-Play Festival, Cardiff, UK
16. July 2009 Featured Reader at Love and Hate, London, UK
17. Nov. 2009 Featured Reader, Halloweird, Cardiff, UK
18. Nov. 2009 American Means, The Crunch Poetry Series, Swansea, UK
19. Nov. 2009 "Open Mic Prize" winner at Poetry on Tap, Cardiff, UK
20. Nov. 2009 American Means, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, UK
21. Dec. 2009 American Means, Square Magazine Launch, Cardiff, UK
22. Jan. 2010 American Means, Alchemy Reading Series, Prague, CZ
23. Jan. 2010 American Means on the Joe Milford Poetry Show, radio interview
24. Apr. 2010 Featured Reader, Poetry Marathon, Swansea, UK
25. Jun. 2010 Featured Reader, Full of Crow Poetry Hour, radio reading
26. Jul. 2010 Featured Reader, Lost Elation Readings, London, UK
27. Jul. 2010 "Open Mic Prize" winner at Poetry on Tap, Cardiff, UK
28. Jul. 2010 Featured Reader, Oxfam Bookathon, Cardiff, UK
29. Jul. 2010 Featured Reader, "In Chapters" Cardiff, UK
30. Sept. 2010 "sole" at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, UK
31. Oct. 2010 Featured Reader and Host, UWIC Open Mic, Cardiff, UK
32. Oct. 2010 "sole" at The Crunch Poetry Series, Swansea, UK
33. Dec. 2010 Featured Reader, "In Chapters" Cardiff, UK
34. Mar. 2011 Featured Reader, Alchemy Reading Series, Prague, CZ

References

1. ^ "Full of Crow". http://www.fullofcrow.com/poetry/2009/07/david-e-oprava. 
2. ^ "deoprava". http://www.deoprava.com/POETRY.htm. 
3. ^ "blackheathbooks". http://www.blackheathbooks.org.uk/3.html. 
4. ^ "Michael Kimble". http://michael-kimble.com/blog.php?published-max=2009-11-13T09%3A52%3A00.000-08%3A00. 
5. ^ "deoprava". http://www.deoprava.com/PhD.html. 
6. ^ "deoprava". http://www.deoprava.com/PUBLISHED.html. 

Sources

• Full of Crow (2009) [1], retrieved on 3/20/2011
• Oprava, David (2009) [2], retrieved on 3/20/2011
• Schwartz, Peter (2009) Peter Schwartz Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard), retrieved on 3/20/2011

Online reviews/External links

• http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/theres-no-place-like-home/
• http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/poetics-two-books-of-poetry-by-yu-han-chao-and-david-e-oprava/
• http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9680959-sole#other_reviews

Persondata
Name	David E. Oprava
Alternative names	d.e. oprava
Short description	American Poet
Date of birth	April 22, 1973
Place of birth	New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death