Biography

Karl Kempton was born July 1 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Educated as a bachelor of Science and Economics, with Minors in Mathematics and History in 1968, at University of Utah, Salt Lake City Utah, USA. Married Ruth Kempton, June 21 1983.

During the 1980s, Karl Kempton worked in tandem with Karl Young on visual poetry. Kempton’s Kaldron magazine published some examples of a much larger selection of visual poets.

Community Service

Founding member of People Against Nuclear Power, 1977. Founding member of the anti-nuclear power group Down Wind, 1979. Founding member of the Indian Heritage Center, 1979-1983. Archaeological consultant to Ad Hoc Committee to Save Grover City’s Greenbelt, 1981. Member of the Board of Directors of The Ocean Sanctuary Coalition of San Luis Obispo County, 1991 to 1995. Director of Information and research for The Ocean Sanctuary Coalition of San Luis Obispo County, 1992 -1995. Primary Analyst for the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo against offshore oil, 1991- 2002. Conceiver of and founding member of Marine Sanctuary Alliance, 2090 to present.

Poetry Service

Editor and publisher of Rainbow Resin 1973-1979. Volunteer consultant for Small Press publications and poetry for Sacramento Library System, 1975. Editor and publisher of KALDRON, an International Journal of Visual Poetry, 1976 to 1990. Volunteer consultant for Small Press publications and poetry for San Luis Obispo County Library System, 1977 and 1978. Co-editor, CAFE SOLO, Series 2, Numbers 1/2 & 3/4, 1978 & 9. Co-Founder and Co-Director of Corners of the Mouth, a monthly poetryreading series, San Luis Obispo, 1984-1986. Co-Founder and Co-Director of the San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival, 1984 to 1993. Guest Editor, 10-5155-20, Visual Poetry special issue, Canada, 1983. Founding member of Poetry Committee, San Luis Obispo County Arts Council, 2001-2002. Co-editor of on-line KALDRON, an International Journal of Visual Poetry, 1997 to present.

Links

http://www.thelastvispo.com/2012/04/07/karl-kempton-visual-poetry-a-brief-overview-of-ancestors-and-traditions-to-the-present-wbibliography/
http://www.thing.net/~grist/ld/young/YoungVisPoAnthNotes.htm