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Awarding-winning poets and editors Dereks Henderson & Pollard have been collaborating on creative and scholarly projects since 1990, when they first met as les enfants terribles in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and formed a fast, lasting friendship as a result of exchanging writing portfolios. Shortly after this meeting, the two Dereks partnered with artist and writer Zee Boudreaux to establish Blue Night Press, publisher of limited edition chapbooks and the literary and fine art journal Prechelonian, which was modeled in large part on the literary journal Plethora (later renamed Spear) and the chapbooks regularly being published by Seth Nehil, William Lee, and Aaron Lund in Kalamazoo.
Both Dereks left academia shortly after matriculating to university, spending years afterward living what both writers respectfully refer to as "the gypsy life," traveling throughout the United States and working multiple jobs in various fields while continuing to pursue individual and collaborative creative endeavors. During this time, Blue Night Press published three issues of Prechelonian, featuring fiction and poetry by Matt Dube, Arielle Greenberg, and Lyn Lifshin, among many others, as well as chapbooks by William Lee (Manolete), Brandon LaBelle (Second Blood), and both Dereks [Some Poems, Is It Tuesday: Califa. Poems & Collected Nonsense, 22 23 (which forms the first section of the collection Inconsequentia), November, Kheperu, and TiMe BomB].
After years of remaining apart from academe, both Dereks returned to university to complete their Bachelor of Arts degrees at the University of Iowa (Derek Henderson) and at Western Michigan University (Derek Pollard). During this time, Derek Pollard was a member of the editorial team working with Founding Editor Herb Scott to further develop and grow New Issues Poetry & Prose. Prior to leaving Kalamazoo to begin graduate school at the University of Utah, he was also named Assistant Director of Western Michigan University's academic press in order to facilitate the university's transition to a concentration on literary publishing.
At the University of Utah, Derek Pollard was named a Vice-Presidential Fellow in Creative Writing while working toward his Master of Fine Arts degree, which he earned at the end of two years. Derek Henderson joined him at the beginning of his second and final year in the program, beginning his own studies toward the MFA degree that would eventually lead to his PhD in Literature with Creative Writing emphasis. Alongside their scholarly pursuits, both Dereks became Ordained Clergy Persons through the Church of Spiritual Humanism, headquartered in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and have since performed marriage ceremonies in Massachusetts and Florida. Please feel free to contact us for our availability as wedding officiants.
Since leaving Salt Lake City, Derek Pollard has lived and worked in Monmouth and Ocean Counties in New Jersey; in New York City; in Syracuse, New York; and in Las Vegas. He is currently a Black Mountain Institute PhD Fellow at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and is on faculty at UNLV, at the Downtown Writer's Center (online), and at Pratt Institute. He also conducts online creative writing workshops and individual consultations ranging from book manuscript editing to writing support for artists, professionals, and students. For further information regarding these services, including registration and pricing, please see the Workshops page or the Writing Services & Tutoring page on this website. Additional professional details can be found on Derek Pollard's curriculum vitae page.
Derek Henderson continues to live and work in the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area. He is currently on faculty at Utah Valley University. See his curriculum vitae page for additional professional details.