Valentino Assenza

Melding a theatre arts background with the constant of writing, Valentino Assenza has emerged as an engaging spoken word performer. He attributes his love of poetry to three key influences: Charles Bukowski, Leonard Cohen, and Pablo Neruda. His two poetry chapbooks -- Wandering Absence and Il Ritorno -- were brought out by Labour Of Love Press. His most recent book of poetry -- Quiet Confessions Of A Loudmouth -- was published with Lyricalmyrical Press. In the summer of 2006 Valentino joined the Last Call Poets who have gone on weekend tours of Montreal, Quebec, and are planning a large tour across North America. Valentino also runs a spoken word poetry series called Cryptic Chatter on the first Friday of every month at the Renaissance Cafe in Toronto. He also enjoys live concerts and bleeding blue and white for his favourite hockey team.