Carine Topal

In the Heaven of Never Before

Carine Topal, a native New Yorker, writes and teaches in Los Angeles. After graduating from college, she moved to Jerusalem, Israel, where she worked with Palestinian merchants, traveling to villages and towns in the West Bank and Bethlehem. She was also employed by the Office of Assimilation, in a small town outside Jerusalem, working with Morrocan Jews. She then moved to Heidelberg, Germany, where she lived on the American army base. After returning to the states and earning a Masters Degree from New York University, she moved to Southern California. Since 1982, she has anthologized the poetry of special needs children. She participated in the grassroots organization California Poets in the Schools. She was the Poet-in-Residence for the city of Manhattan Beach and Poet-in-Education for Manhattan Beach elementary schools....