Steven Fortney  was conceived in Rogers, North dakota and was born 2 January 37 in Minneapolis. Raised in the Lutheran Church by a Chaplain and later Pastor father, in a military family that traveled extensively all over the United States in Army Posts, including childhood residences in Germany and Austria, immediately after WWII. Married since 1960, has four children and nine grandchildren. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Classics and Philosophy 1955, attended Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota for the 1960-61 term. He was a newspaperman (adman, reporter, columnist and printer--this was a small newspaper) for four years. He graduated from the School of Education at UW-Madison and certified as a secondary teacher in 1964 and taught high school for 31 years; has lived in Stoughton, Wisconsin  since 1961. He was a union negotiator for 25 years and became an alderman on Stoughton City Council 1976-1997 and for six years served as the Chief Negotiator (among many other things) for the city. Took initiation in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition from the Dalai Lama in 1981 and again in 1986.  Experienced his  naming ceremony in the Zen tradition at Fukujuji Temple, with Priest Sokyu Hashimoto, in Miharu, Japan in 1992. Took early retirement in 1995 to devote full time to writing. He fishes and hunts and gardens and reads like mad. He has lived in Stoughton, Wisconsin on and off since 1955. Has published poems in the following magazines and anthologies and has been listed in A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, since the 1989-90  Edition:    Hika Bay Review, Sheboygan, WI (May 77),      Milk Weed Chronicle, Minneapolis, (Sp/Sum 82),      Yet Another Literary Magazine,  Andrew Mountain Press Magazine, Hartford, CT, 1985      Seems, Sheboygan, WI, Spring, 86      Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, New York, 5 poems, July 85, Sept 85, May 86, Sept 86--2 poems.      The Pulpsmith, New York, Vol. 6, No. 2, Summer 1986.      This Sporting Life, an anthology on sports and games, Milkweed Press, July, 1987. Second edition, 1998.      Cutting Edge Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2, Vol. 3, No. 2 Empty Mirror Press, Ann Arbor, MI, Summer, 1987, and Summer  1990.      Heaven Bone,The Magazine of New Age Poetry, Chester,  New York, five poems, four in Vol. 1. No 3, and the other in Vol 1. No. 4, Winter 1988; #6 Winter-Spring, 1989, and Spring 1990.      Embers,  Guilford CT, Volume XII, No. 2.      Visions International,  Black Buzzard Press, Arlington VA, two poems, Summer 1990, 1998 . East West A Poetry Annual,  Vol I, Cape Cod Writers, December 1992.      Yahara Prairie Review, Winter, Summer, 1993.      Poems That Thump in the Night,  New Spirit Press, #3, Fall, 1993.      North Coast Review, #3, 6, A Poetry Harbor Publication, Duluth MN, August 1993, 1994. Wisconsin Poets Calendar, 1996    North Coast Review, A Poetry Harbor Publication, Duluth MN, Spring 1997. Capitol Skies, Madison Astronomical Society, August 1999 Wisconsin Poets Calendar, 2001  Badger Books, Waubesa Press, Heg, a novella, April 1998.  Badger Books, Waubesa Press (second novel),  The Thomas Jesus,  April, 2000   Badger Books, Waubesa Press (third novel),  The Gazebo,  April, 2001   Chapbook, Pudding House Press, June 2001 Badger Books, Waubesa Press, (fourth novel), The Maitreya,  May, 2003 Badger Books, Waubesa Press, (fifth novel), The Party, May 2004. Badger Books, Waubesa Press, (sixth novel), The Reunion, May 2005. Wisconsin Humanities Council Home Page (exerpt The Reunion: Selma) Spring 2007 http://www.wisconsinhumanities.org/essays.html Black Buzzard Press, A Canticle for Palmquist, 2008 Author House, Seeking Truth, Living  with Doubt a book of essays on religion, art & science  with Professor Marshall Onellion, June 2008 Norbert Bleis Poetry Dispatch # 274, Garden, March 2009 Wisconsin Poets Calendar 2010, December pp 112 Norbert Bleis Poetry Dispatch, #338 Hymn to my Hands, January 2011 Lake City Lights, an Online Poetry Anthology, Jerry McGinley, ed. two poems, First Issue, October, 2012, Lake City Lights, three poems, A Companion of Owls, Anisotropy as Original Sin, and The Hermit, November, Second Issue, 2012

Steven Fortney 501 West South Street Stoughton, Wisconsin 53589 1-608-873-3917

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sfortney@me.com