George GraceGeorge Grace has worn many hats in his lifetime: playwright, poet, fiction and nonfiction writer, visual artist, tournament chess player, tournament volleyball player and coach, steelworker, home remodeling contractor, teacher, editor, publisher, colmnist, musician, actor, social activist, and campaign manager-each in his quest to be creative and find his niche in Buffalo, New York, where he spent his first forty-nine years. As a playwright, he saw six of his plays staged in western New York from the late 70s through the mid-80s, most notably The Eviction, and A Divine Apprentice, the latter selected for the first Area Playwrights Series at the Buffalo Entertainment Theatre.George taught writing at SUC at Buffalo, Attica State Correctional, Villa Maria College, for the Circleformance Streetwriter's workshop, and for Writers-in-Education in the Buffalo Public Schools. He is the author of articles published in national arts magazines, and three books of poetry, American Stonehenge; Night Wanes, Dawn; and Steeling America-A Poetic Memoir of Lackawanna's Bethlehem Steel Plant. He also founded and ran a successful writers and musicians showcase in Buffalo and worked as a columnist and investigative reporter for the Buffalo Alternative Press.His art has been selected for many regional, national, and international exhibitions, winning numerous awards, and has been represented by several galleries in Western New York, Nashville, and Soho. In November 2008, he became the 75th president of the Buffalo Society of Artists, and served four nonconsecutive terms. A master chess player, he competed in three World Open Tournaments in the '80s, attaining the prize round each time.In June 2000, nine months after his wife, Donna, lost her bid for the Buffalo City Council, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee. In 2002, they moved back to Buffalo, where he returned to working as a home improvement contractor, taking on side jobs lecturing on Theatre of the Absurd and Existentialism, and teaching art and writing. In 2012, he became a partner in Meridian West Art Gallery in Buffalo's Hertel Avenue district, which in addition to showing some of Western New York's finest art also hosted music, poetry readings, and writing workshops. It closed two years later.In 2018, he returned to college to earn his BA degree some fifty years after first attending college. He was nominated for an Artie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design for his work in a production of The Full Monty at Subversive Theatre in Buffalo, NY.He is a survivor of squamous non-small cell lung cancer and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, the latter of which he got from a flu shot. Read More Read Less