Harry Griswold was born and raised in Rochester, NY where several of his great-grandparents had settled. He studied computing at Monroe Community College (MCC) then graduated as a social science major from the University of Rochester. At MCC he started to write poems and joined his English professor to become a founding co-editor of Cabbages and Kings, now the school’s official literary and art magazine, still published today.

For years, Harry built computer models for Xerox Corporation where he later taught computer applications design and a high-level mathematical language. Based on this, a company in San Diego made him a great job offer. And he left lake-effect snow behind.

In San Diego, Harry met the poet and teacher Steve Kowit, whose humor and clear writing greatly influenced his own poetry. Summers in Idyllwild, Harry workshopped with Los Angeles poets including Eloise Klein Healy, and learned from nationally known poets such as Billy Collins, Natasha Trethewey, Lucille Clifton, and others. Then it was on to earn an MFA degree at Pacific University where his most memorable mentor was Joseph Millar. For years since then, Harry has been leading his own workshop for adults, Pleasures of Poetry.

His five grown children and their 12 kids are living in towns spread across several states. He and his wife, Stephanie, divide their time between San Diego and the mountain town of Idyllwild. There they both actively support the Idyllwild Arts Foundation, which runs a residential high school of the arts and a summer arts program for all ages.

For many years, Harry played oboe and continues to pursue his interest in photography. Publication credits include California Quarterly, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, Gargoyle, Hummingbird Review, and International Poetry Review, among numerous others. He has received three Pushcart Prize nominations. His first book was Camera Obscura (Wordcraft of Oregon), followed by Just Enough Clothes (Garden Oak Press). A third volume, which is looking for a publisher, has a working title of Report from the Front.

He says, I hope I’m mindful of the planet and persons who are different from me. We the people have some wrongs to right.