Lisa Martinovic´ is a native San Franciscan who recently returned to the Bay Area after six years of deep cover research in Hogeye, Arkansas. Lisa specializes in high-octane social commentary, Ozark character studies, and a genre she calls poemedy--a hybrid art form combining the most compelling qualities of poetry and stand-up comedy. She has seven self-published books to her credit and one audio-tape. Lisa has toured as a performance poet throughout the US, featuring everywhere from New York City's Nuyorican Poet's Cafe to City Lights in San Francisco, and sharing the stage with such noted poets as Gary Snyder and Miller Williams. She is absolutely tickled to have won "Best Surprise Act" of the 1996 Austin International Poetry Festival for her performance piece, Jim Bob Gets a Lap Dance. Lisa's poetry has appeared in ten anthologies and numerous magazines, including Andre Codrescu's Exquisite Corpse, Southern Exposure, The Underwood Review, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Will Work for Peace and the definitive Outlaw Bible of American Poetry.
Her essays have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, Northern California Bohemian, The Ozark Gazette, commondreams.org, counterpunch.org; her commentaries are heard on KQED 88.5 FM and Pacifica Radio's KPFA 94.1 FM. (See Upcoming Appearances)
As the Co-Chair of the Ozark Poets & Writers Collective, Lisa organized and participated in local poetry slams, and served for three years on the Executive Council of Poetry Slam, Inc., the national governing body for the growing world of slam. She was on slam teams representing The Ozarks at the National Poetry Slam every year from '95 to '99, and on Team Santa Cruz in 2000. At the '96 National Poetry Slam she was the 12th ranked individual in the nation.Three-time winner of the annual Ozark Grand Slam, she is not bashful about calling herself the SlamQueen of the Ozarks. And since she's back in San Francisco a new honorific is in order. Lisa hasn't won any title here yet, she just loves the way it sounds rolling off her tongue, and so she calls herself