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Robert Peebles Arthur (Bob Arthur) (born 1943) is a poet, a novelist, a short story writer, a playwright, a critic, a director, and a professor. He has written and published over twenty books and plays and 1,500 articles on the arts. A finalist for Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2008 and 2010, he remains best known for his book of poems, ''Hymn to the Chesapeake,'' the best-selling book in the history of Road Publishers. Eleven of his plays have been pegged "poem-plays," a genre possibly created by Arthur. Additionally, Arthur has founded two national literary journals: ''BlackWater Review'' (with poet Juliet Crichton) and ''Lady Jane's Miscellany" (with poet Jeff Hewitt) in 2009.'' In 2002, he founded ''Poetry in Performance,''a touring poetry group that starred Lisa Neely, Amber Wood, Sunday Abbott, Jeff Hewitt, and D.D. Delaney. "Poetry in Performance" has featured the music of internationally known singers and performers Gordon Bok, Andy Stewart, and Bob Zentz, as well as the new works of the ''Blue Marsh Band'' and the poetry of Virginia Poets Laureate Claudia Emerson and Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda. In 2005, he founded San Francisco Bay Press〔(San Francisco Bay Press )〕 with Jeff Hewitt and his daughter, Hannah, who is Editor-in-Chief. In 2007, he co-founded the ''Spoken Word Theatre at 40th Street Stage'' in Norfolk, Virginia, also with Hewitt. He has been a literary and/or drama critic for five newspapers and magazines, including ''Port Folio Magazine'' (Virginia Beach), where he co-founded with Bill Candler the ''Port Folio Awards for dramatic arts," and served as its director for over fifteen years . He is the Artistic Director of the Edge Theatre in Belle Haven, Virginia: the Poetry Selection Editor of Northampton House Press; and a former director of a drama program at Tidewater Community College. Arthur is a writer-in-residence in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and a former writer-in-residence of Beverly Cordoba Duane's ''Second Wind Dance Company'' in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He served out the term as one of three literary advisors for the ''Poetry Society of Virginia,'' replacing the great Virginia poet and writer, George Garrett, on the latter's death in 2009. He is now an Executive Director of the Poetry Society of Virginia. ==Early life and education== Robert P. Arthur was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1943, but spent much of his childhood on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in Melfa and Silver Beach, which are small fishing communities on the Chesapeake Bay. His mother’s side of the family, the Barnes family, hails from the Scottish Drummond clan and William Drummond, who relocated to the Eastern Shore in the 17th century. William Drummond, the colonial Governor and a principal player in Bacon’s Rebellion, was the first man hanged in Virginia for insurrection and a possible relative of the Scottish poet, William Drummond. On his father’s side, Arthur is a descendant of Governor William Bradford, who was a leader of the separatist settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and primary architect of the Mayflower Compact. Arthur’s paternal grandfather, Robert P. Arthur, died at age 29 before Arthur was born and was survived by Arthur’s grandmother, Laura Turlington. Both Laura and Arthur’s maternal grandfather and grandmother, Florence and Clifford Barnes, played important roles in Arthur’s early life. As a child, Arthur’s first significant place of residence was Melfa, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. In Keller, Virginia, a town near Melfa, Arthur’s grandmother’s family, the Turlingtons, owned a small track at which they trained horses bred for harness racing. Due to his father’s absences and his mother’s epilepsy, Arthur spent much of his early childhood at the track with his five great uncles or prowling the waters of the Chesapeake with relatives who were watermen. Arthur and his three brothers were all superior athletes. After a move to Norfolk, Robert was Athlete of the Year at Granby High School in both football and basketball and earned a football scholarship to the University of Richmond, Virginia, but his back and neck were injured his freshman year, leaving him lifelong physical problems. After the injuries, he took his acting and writing more seriously. Later, he became a skier, sailor, and white-water canoeist, as well as a second degree black- belt instructor in Taekwondo. His career in martial arts and other sports ended abruptly when he was fifty due to the progressive worsening of earlier injuries Arthur earned a BA (1961–1965) and an MA (1966–1967) in English at the University of Richmond, Virginia, where he met his first wife, Patricia Waddell and became apprenticed to the writer Clifford Dowdey. After graduation, he taught creative writing in the same program with James T. Farrell. Arthur earned an MFA from the University of Arkansas (1971–1973), where he worked closely with Miller Williams, and briefly studied with Maxine Kumin. Writers Richard Yates, Michael Yeats, James Whitehead, Bill Harrison, Larry McMurtry, and John Yount were among his teachers. Many of Arthur's Arkansas student friends included fine writers, such as Dave Evans (Poet Laureate of South Dakota), Gordon Osing (poet), Gary Ligi (poet), E.B. Weinstock (fiction writer), and Michael Gaspeny (fiction writer). Osing was instrumental in convincing Arthur to concentrate on poetry. Well-known poets Leon Stokesberry and R.S. Gwynn were in the same Arkansas program. Arthur met his second wife, Cherry Owens, at Arkansas while they were both students there, she working on her doctorate, and he on his MFA. Arthur is most influenced by writers he either doesn’t know, or personally likes the least. He has never spoken to W.S. Merwin, and has not spoken to either Miller Williams or Bill Harrison for over thirty-five years. He has a grudge of unknown origin against Larry McMurtry, and once hid from James T. Farrell to avoid sitting with him on a plane. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert P. Arthur」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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