Hal Sirowitz

Hal Sirowitz (born 1949) is an American poet.

He first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night Poetry Slam. He eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team, and competed in the 1993 National Poetry Slam (held that year in San Francisco) along with his Nuyorican teammates Maggie Estep, Tracie Morris, and Regie Cabico.

Sirowitz would later perform his poetry on stages across the country, and on television programs such as MTV's Spoken Word: Unplugged and PBS's The United States of Poetry. He has written eleven books of poetry, including the volumes Mother Said, My Therapist Said and Father Said.

Sirowitz is a 1994 recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and is the former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York. He worked as a special education teacher in the New York public school system for 23 years. He is married to writer Mary Minter Krotzer.

Sirowitz abroad
Sirowitz is the best-selling translated poet in Norway, where Mother Said has been adapted for the stage and turned into a series of animated cartoons.