Norbert
Blei, born in Chicago, the author of a trilogy concerning that city
and its people, Chi Town, Neighborhood, and The Ghost of Sandburg's
Phizzog has lived in Door County, Wisconsin since l969 and written
extensively about Wisconsin as well.
He has taught, lectured, given writing workshops throughout the
state and the Midwest, and is the Writer-in-Residence at the Clearing
(Ellison Bay) where he has guided beginning and advanced students
in the art of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for more than twenty-five
years.
He has published in many of the state's leading periodicals and
literary magazines, and is a frequent commentator and guest on the
Jean Feraca show (Wisconsin Public Radio) and has appeared on Warren
Nelson's Tent Radio program (Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua),
and the Michael Feldman Show (WPR and NPR). For three years he was
a featured commentator on a local literary/ arts program in Door
County, "Passages" (WDOR FM 98.7) and had his own hour
program of commentary, interviews, readings, blues and jazz, called
"The Coyote Hour" on WBDK, FM 96.7.
In l985 the Wisconsin Library Association honored his literary contribution
by designating him a Notable Wisconsin Author, and he is included
in Jim Stephens' three-volume literary history of Wisconsin, The
Journey Home. In l997 he received the Gordon MacQuarrie Award from
the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters for his outstanding
work in nature and environmental writing. He is one of 64 writers
whose work was architecturally incorporated in a new convention
center, the Midwest Express Center, in downtown Milwaukee. In l999
he received the Harry Bradley Major Achievement Award from the Council
of Wisconsin Writers for significant literary achievement. He is
also a Pushcart Press award winner for fiction.
Blei is the author of seventeen books: fiction, nonfiction, and
poetry and has received state, regional, and national awards. In
December of l994 he started his own small press, CROSS+ROADS PRESS
dedicated to the publication of first chapbooks by poets, short
story writers, novelists and artists. He was a contributing editor
to the national quarterly, FORKROADS, A Journal of Ethnic-American
Literature; co-editor of The Door Voice, the literary/associate
editor of The Peninsula Pulse, and a columnist/feature writer for
the online publication: www.doorcountycompass.com. His nonfiction
has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, the Washington
Post, etc. while his short stories and poems have appeared in numerous
literary anthologies, textbooks, and magazines including the Minnesota
Review, Tri-Quarterly, Story, Kenyon Review, Utne Reader, and The
New Yorker.
His Wisconsin work includes the award winning trilogy: Door Way,
Door Steps, Door to Door, as well as Meditations on a Small Lake
and the controversial Chronicles of a Rural Journalist in America--dedicated
to the preservation of the rural landscape. Works-in-progress include
a novel set in Door County, three collections of short stories,
and four books of nonfiction. His most recent works include Winter
Book and the first tradeback edition of CHI TOWN published by Northwestern
University Press
