lengthy inscribed by author

Lamont Steptoe is a poet, photographer, journalist, and activist based in Philadelphia, PA. His most recent collection of poems, A Long Movie of Shadows, was just awarded a 2005 American Book Award.

Lamont is the founder/publisher of Whirlwind Press. He was a Combat Army Sergeant in Vietnam and was decorated with the Bronze Star. Among other awards and grants, Lamont has won:

* The 1999 Literary Fellow for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
* The 2002 Kuntu Writers Workshop Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry from founders Rob Penny and August Wilson
* Discipline Winner in the Literature Category of the Pen Fellowship Program in Philadelphia
* Twice nominated for the Pushcart Award.