Hal Sirowitz (born 1949), known as "the people's poet," is an internationally known American poet, author, and retired public school teacher. Sirowitz first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Café Friday Night Poetry Slam in the late 1980's and early 1990's. He was on the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team which competed in that year's National Poetry Slam in San Francisco. He has performed his poetry across the country and Europe and is known as the most popular translated poet in the history of Norway, where animated films and a play based on his poetry have been adapted. In 2007, he was a participant in the Jerusalem Conference of Writers and Poets. Sirowitz has performed and appeared on MTV's Spoken Word Unplugged; Lollapalooza; several international poetry festivals and public television programs; the Saint Mark's Church New Year's Day Poetry Marathon, NPR's All Things Considered and Fresh Air with Terry Gross; and PBS's Poetry Heaven and the United States of Poetry. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1994 and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in 2004. In 2000, Sirowitz became the second Poet Laureate of Queens, New York, a position he held for three years. In 2012, he was the co-winner of the Noir Con Poetry Contest judged by Robert Polito. Sirowitz taught special education classes in the New York City public school system for twenty-three years.

Source: http://www.halsirowitz.com/