Rodrigo Toscano (born 1964 in San Diego) is an American poet and labor & environment activist. He has worked with the Labor Institute since 2000 as a director of national projects. He is also a lifelong amateur classical pianist.

Life

Originally from San Diego, California, Toscano lived in San Francisco from 1995 to 1999, and in Brooklyn, New York from 1999 to 2015.^[1] He works for the Labor Institute based in New York City, and lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[2]

Dissatisfied with formal schooling, Toscano is self-educated: "on my own, I was always reading philosophy or poetry or politics or history." While in San Francisco, he helped organize the Labor Party and along with Alan Benjamin, he co-edited the Golden Gate Labor Party newsletter.^[3]

Awards

• 2019 Edwin Markham prize for poetry
• 2007 National Poetry Series
• 2005 New York State Fellowship in Poetry
• 2005 Fund for Poetry
• 1998 Fund for Poetry

Works

Poetry

• Arbiter. Parenthesis. 1995.
• Partisans. O Books. 1999. ISBN 978-1-882-02237-3.
• The Disparities. Green Integer. 2002. ISBN 978-1-931243-25-4.
• Platform. Atelos. 2003. ISBN 978-1-891190-15-5.
• To Leveling Swerve. Krupskaya. 2004. ISBN 978-1-928650-23-2.
• Collapsible Poetics Theater. Fence Books. 2008. ISBN 978-1-934200-18-6.
• Deck of Deeds. Counterpath. 2012. ISBN 978-1933996-31-8.
• Explosion Rocks Springfield. Fence Books. 2016. ISBN 978-0-9864373-4-2.
• In Range. Counterpath. 2019. ISBN 978-1-93-399673-8.
• The Charm & The Dread. Fence Books. 2022. ISBN 978-1944380229.
• The Cut Point. Counterpath. 2023. ISBN 978-1-93-399683-7.

Dialogues & Interviews

https://rodrigotoscano.com/interviews-dialogues/

Anthologies

• Anne Waldman; Nathaniel Mackey; Ruben Medina; Roberto Harrison, eds. (2017). Resist Much / Obey Little. Dispatches Editions. ISBN 978-1-944682-32-3.
• Daniel Sack, ed. (2017). Imagined Theatres. Palgrave. ISBN 978-1138122048.
• Manuel Brito, ed. (2017). The Canary Island Connection: 60 Contemporary American Poets. Zasterle. ISBN 978-84-87467-50-9.
• Roxanne Power, ed. (2016). Viz. Inter-Arts: Interventions. Viz. Inter-Arts. ISBN 978-0-9786215-2-0.
• Douglas Kearney, ed. (2015). Best American Experimental Writing 2015. Wesleyan. ISBN 978-0-8195-7607-1.
• Carmen Gimenez Smith; John Chavez, eds. (2014). Angels of the Americlypse. Counterpath. ISBN 978-1933996-39-4.
• Dana Teen Lomax, ed. (2013). Kindergarde: Avant-Garde Poems for Children. Black Radish Books. ISBN 978-0-9850837-6-2.
• Sharmila Cohen; Paul Legault, eds. (2012). The Sonnets (Translating and Rewriting Shakespeare). Night Boat Books / Telephone Books. ISBN 978-1937658076.
• Craig Dworkin, ed. (2011). Against Expression. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-2711-1.
• Rebecca Wolf, ed. (2009). The Best of Fence (First 9 years). Fence Books. ISBN 978-1-934200-06-3.
• Robert L Giron, ed. (2009). Voices Without Borders. Gival Press. ISBN 978-1928589433.
• Monica de La Torre; Rocio Ceron; Cristián Gómez, eds. (2009). Malditos Latinos Malditos Sudacas. Ediciones el Billar de Lucrecia. ISBN 978-607-00-2108-4.
• Barrett Watten; Carrie Noland, eds. (2009). Diasporic Avant Gardes. Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-08751-5.
• Teresa Carmody, ed. (2007). The Noulipian Analects. Les Figues Press. ISBN 978-1-934254-00-4.
• Lance Phillips; Geoffrey Gatza, eds. (2007). Here Comes Everybody (an Anthology). Blaze VOX. ISBN 978-1-934289-04-4.
• David Lehman, Lyn Hejinian, ed. (2004). Best American Poetry 2004. Scribner. ISBN 0-7432-5737-5.
• Leslie Scalapino, ed. (2004). War and Peace. O Books. ISBN 978-1-882022-52-6.
• Val Stevenson; Todd Swift, eds. (2004). In the Criminal's Cabinet: An anthology of poetry and fiction. Nth Position Press. ISBN 978-0954626815.