I was born dirt poor. Luckily dreams are free.
Thomas Fortenberry is an American author, editor, reviewer, and publisher. Founder of Mind Fire Press and the international literary arts journal Mindfire, he has judged many literary contests, including The Georgia Author of the Year Awards and The Robert Penn Warren Prize for Fiction. Among other awards, such as twice winning Best Novella of the Year, he has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
He has done editorial work for numerous magazines, anthologies, book companies, and journals in the past (including Maelstrom, The Southerner, Ragnarok, Phic-Shun, Morphesium, Soul Unmade, Mind Fire, The Istanbul Literature Review, and The Global Knowledge Series of Arts and Sciences [GKSAS]). He also helped found several literary companies over the years, such as Mind Fire Press, GKSAS, Third Party Productions (film and TV), and Silverline Comics.
His award-winning works have appeared internationally in almost every genre and style (nonfiction, fiction, poetry, comic books, plays, screenplays, and teleplays). Writings have appeared in English and translations in publications such as Amelia, Cicada, Maelstrom, Contemporary Southern Poets of 1997, Poetry Magazine, Writer’s Choice, Media Critics Magazine, Fiction Network, Soul Unmade, Poetry Superhighway, Ariga, Eternity, Gravity, Uno, Lower Than the Angels, Wooden Head Review, Ectopia, Poetry Depth Quarterly, Lumi Virtuale, Storytellers, Left Bank Review, Prairie Poetry, Biblioteca di Babele, Painted Poetry, Main Street Rag, Independence Boulevard, Coast Business Journal, Midwest Book Review, Fait Accomplit, The European Legacy, Poets4Peace, RAWA, EnterText, The World Book of Healing, Haiku Hut, Symbiotic, Verse Libre Quarterly, Taj Mahal Review, Slate & Style, Ya’Sou, Dew-on-line, Saathee, IPM: Internet Poetry Magazine, The Internet Poetry Anthology, Lynx, Peshekee River, Babel Magazine, Reading Matrix, Listening to the Birth of Crystals, The Book of Remembrance, nth Position, Mickle Street Review, Poetrystory, Annetna Nepo, El Nuevo Malcriado, Consciousness, Literature, and the Arts, The Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction, and as introductions to books such as Calamity’s Quilt (by Janet Buck), A River Transformed (Wang Wei’s Chinese Poetry Reenvisioned in Modern English by Gary Blankenship), Face of the Screaming Werewolf (by Ken Gage), Life by Alice Shapiro,and The Outline of History (by H. G. Wells).
In the real world Thomas has a degree in history, with specialties in philosophy, creative writing, zoology, and anthropology. He teaches Latin language and Classical Studies, i.e. Graeco-Roman culture, history, literature, and philosophy. He is co-host of a radio show. He is active with numerous social, political, educational, environmental, literary, historical, and scientific organizations and issues. Beyond hosting numerous forums and groups, he contributes to various non-profit organizations such as Open Solutions for Government and as a lecturer at the International House. He serves on the Board and as the Administrator of the AAC-NCDP, Mecklenburg County Commisssion Steele Creek Area Liaison, member of the Land Use Committee, Chair of Community Outreach and Chair of Community Watch for Yorkshire, and on the Executive Board for the Yorkshire HOA. Of course, most fun of all, he coaches soccer for the Mecklenburg County Police Activities League (his awesome team won the 2009 Championship).