CoolGrove

Category: Authors

  • Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche

    Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche

    Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche was born in the Dhoshul region of Kham in eastern Tibet on June 10, 1950. On that summer day in the family tent, Rinpoche’s birth caused his mother no pain. The next day, his mother, Pema Lhadze, moved the bed where she had given birth. Beneath it she found growing a beautiful and fragrant flower which she plucked and offered to Chenrezig on the family altar.

    Soon after his birth three head lamas from Jadchag monastery came to his home and recognized him as the reincarnation of Khenpo Sherab Khyentse. Khenpo Sherab Khyentse, who had been the former head abbot lama at Gochen Monastery, was a renowned scholar and practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat.

    Rinpoche’s first Dharma teacher was his father, Lama Chimed Namgyal. Beginning his schooling at the age of five, he entered Gochen Monastery. His studies were interrupted when his family had to escape to India. In India, his father and brother, Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (1932-2010), continued his education until he entered the Nyingmapa Monastic School of Northern India, where he studied until 1967.

    He then entered the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, which was then a part of Sanskrit University in Varanasi, where he received his B.A. degree in 1975. He also attended Nyingmapa University in West Bengal, where he received another B.A. and an M.A. in 1977. In 1978 Rinpoche was enthroned as the abbot of the Wish-fulfilling

    Nyingmapa Institute in Boudanath, Nepal by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, and later became the abbot of the Department of Dharma Studies, where he taught poetry, grammar, philosophy, and psychology. In 1981, H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche appointed Rinpoche as the abbot of the Dorje 217Nyingpo Center in Paris, France. In 1982 he was asked to work with H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche at the Yeshe Nyingpo Center in New York. During the 1980s, until H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche’s mahaparinirvana in 1987, Rinpoche continued working closely with him, often traveling as his translator and attendant.

    In 1988, Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche founded the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center (PBC) to preserve the authentic message of Buddha Shakyamuni and Guru Padmasambhava in its entirety, and in particular to teach the traditions of the Nyingma school and Vajrayana Buddhism. PBC includes over 20 centers in the U.S.A., India, Puerto Rico, Latvia, and Russia, as well as monastic institutions in India, the U.S.A., and Russia.

    As a holder of the complete Nyingmapa lineage, Khenpo Tsewang Rinpoche is fully versed in the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools, and is a master of Dzogchen. He has co-authored over 35 Dharma books in English with Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, and has personally authored several books, including a biography on His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche named Light of Fearless Indestructible Wisdom, two books of poetry on the life of Guru Rinpoche, including Praise to the Lotus Born: A Verse Garland of Waves of Devotion, and a unique two-volume cultural and religious history of Tibet entitled “Expressing the Six Distinctive Greatnesses of the Ancient School by Recalling the Kind Legacy of the Great Masters, Translators, and Dharma Kings, Known as “Rejoicing Laughter of the Noble Beings,” which details the historical bases of the Dharma in Tibet from the sixth through ninth centuries. At present, this is one of the only books written that conveys the Dharma activities of this historical period in such depth.

    Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Rinpoche actively travels throughout the world giving teachings, empowerments, and personal guidance in fluent English at numerous retreats.

    The main monastery and retreat center of the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center is Padma Samye Ling Monastery and Retreat Center, located in Delaware County in upstate New York. Located in the western region of the Catskill Mountains, the outstanding facilities are contained within 500 acres of forests, meadows, and natural springs. PSL hosts group and personal retreats throughout the year, as well as an annual philosophical Shedra, weekly Dharma Study, and a long-term residency volunteer program.

    218For more information about Khenpo Tsewang Rinpoche’s activities, the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center, or to schedule coming to PSL for retreat or a visit, please contact:

    Padma Samye Ling

    618 Buddha Highway

    Sidney Center, NY 13839

    (607) 865-8068

  • Palden Sherab Rinpoche

    Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche

    Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (1938-2010) was a renowned scholar and meditation master of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1938 in the Doshul region of Kham, eastern Tibet. Around age four, before joining Gochen monastery, he began to read, write and lean chants and ritual ceremonies from his grandfather Lam Tharchok and his father Lama Chimed Namgyal. At the age of fourteen he entered the prestigious Riwoche monastic university where he excelled in Tibetan Medicine and literature, Sanskrit, and the Buddhist philosophy of all nine Yanas.

    In 1959, Khenchen Rinpoche and his family left their homeland in Tibet and made their way to India. After the tumultuous period following their exodus in 1967 he was appointed head of the Nyingma department of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath by H. H. Dudjom Rinpoche. He held this position of abbot for seventeen years, dedicating all his time and energy to ensure the survival and spread of the Buddha’s teachings. Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche moved to the United States in 1984 to work closely with H. H. Dudjom Rinpoche. In 1985 he and his brother, Ven. Khenpos Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, founded Dharma Samudra Publishing. IN 1988, they founded the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center. Together the Khenpo Rinpoches founded Pema Samye Ling in New York, Padma Samye Chokhor Ling monastery and Orgyen Samye Chokhor Ling nunnery in Sarnath, India. They erected the Miracle Stupa in Shravasti, India, and rebuilt Gochen monastery in Tibet.

    Khenchen Rinpoche has co-authored over twenty Dharma books in English with Venerable Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche and authored many other texts in Tibetan. He worked tirelessly his entire life to pass on the ancient and authentic practice traditions of Buddhism to inspire thousands of practitioners world-wide and to leave behind a community dedicated to peace, love and wisdom.

    216In June 2010, displaying profound signs of his realization, Rinpoche entered mahaparinivana peacefully at Padma Samye Ling. Truly; he was a warrior who conquered all negativities to fully accomplish the wishes of Buddha Shakyamuni and Guru Padmasambhava. We will honor and revere him and his legacy forever. A more extensive biography and full list of Rinpoche’s works can be found at www.padmasambhava.org 

  • Nina Zivancevic

    About Nina

    ABOUT ROLLER-SKATING NOTES FOR INGRAM FROM BACK COVER 

    Teleported across the Iron Curtain, Zivancevic sounds the hidden alienation of a language on the brink, of mantras of the unsayable compulsively disgorged in lieu of a politic of linguistic refuge. Poetry is not, as Adorno claimed, impossible after Auschwitz, any more than it is impossible after the Soviet Union or the present drowning of the planet in commodified junk, but the contrary: such catastrophes make language possible in its critical poetic aspect.— Louis Armand

    In this book Nina Zivancevic is a stand-up poet in the true tradition of the great stand-up comedians, like Lenny Bruce, for instance, like Groucho Marx.  But she’s more than that! When Nina Zivancevic’s says in her poem, Active Artists Reforming Action, “No, I’m not an Anarchist/My grandfather did it for me…,” then you’re really in the presence of someone whose every poem is an assault on the senses, a bullet to your ears.”— Gerard Malanga

    This transnational writer reflects on her current life in Paris, France and the situation with migrants, her past in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and its civil war, as well as New York, US and its problems with gentrification. But she also speaks regarding other current or past events, like the civil war in Syria, and Afghanistan. We delight in her reflections on ancient Greece; philosophers like Nietzsche, Freud, Hannah Arendt and Žižek; painters and composers like Chagall, Chopin, and Liszt; and even drug lord,
    El Chapo Guzman.”— Biljana D. Obradovic, Xavier University of Louisiana

    As usual, Nina Zivancevic’s poems do a bunch of things I’ve been trying to figure out for years. She is basically the master mathematician of ideas translated into poetry.— Malik Ameer Crumpler, author of Beneath the Underground, Collected Raps

  • About Anthony Kishko

    The author was kicked out of high school, then graduated top of his class, & proceeded into an infamous existence. From working class digging ditches in North-east New Jersey, to saving lives as a counselor, & inspiring lives teaching high school English. After thousands of hours researching history, literature, philosophy & religion . . . This book is a cumulative exposition of knowledge & experience reflecting the harsh absurdity of our times—turning darkness into light.

    Anthony is a musician/guitarist, performing in bands, including the Earthman band, Gandalf Lebowski & the international Giant Enemy Cancer Cult, & formerly of the legendary Fellowship of the Ring projects. Influences & styles range from Jazz, Rock, Funk, Prog, Blues, Classical & Avant Garde with the radical & disturbing improvisations of Giant Enemy Cancer Cult.

    Solo albums such as Atlantis to Zardoz & Tolkien’s The Epic of Beren & Luthien, with an entire series set to follow, available on: Band- camp.com under FOXTROTSKY OMEGA.

    Link: Music | FOXTROTSKY OMEGA (bandcamp.com) Atlantis To Zardoz is the first of a series of experimental albums consisting of instrumental compositions which fuse genres & disintegrate boundaries of conventional expectation—to lend the ear an absurd 356positive Zen experience: of unexpected organic & geometric changes, shifting mystic journeys, of impressionistic sound melody rhythm and color. This recording conveys aesthetics of melodic exposition and unconventional voicings, such as a Medieval-Jazz expressionism, as well as influences of Progressive Rock, Psychedelia, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Zappa, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, Stravinsky, Blues, Metal, Classical, Folk, Sci-fi & the intrinsic Avant-Garde pursuit to play with these forms and transcend into unique pieces unheard before through a constant modulation spanning poly-rhthyms & poly-tonality.

    Working with the group Giant Enemy Cancer Cult also contributes an inspired influence (after 200 hours of sessions & shows recorded since Covid) due to its modus operandi of composing purely in the moment, creating inspired & ever evolving new creations (warning: this is painfully radical Post-punk Freak-Jazz. Not for the faint of heart!!!) . . . This contrasts with the original soulful song writing conveyed through the epic funk & rock of the Earthman Band, currently performing (1st album: Let Your Freedom Ring, out shortly, with Paradise Fire to follow). Whereas much of Atlantis to Zardoz is in a clean crystalline heavy tone—pleasant to the tranquil—while jettisoned into flights of strange & curious explorations of sonic myths & warping vivid distortions for the imagination to play in . . .

    Some call it purgatorial in its perverse twists from beauty to the daily angst of American pain—the post-2020 surreal grit of pandemic lockdowns & socio-political hysteria & devolution, the stark consequen- tial perversity of polarization . . . This music destroys illusion as we know it. A dance of Shiva. Its subversive vibrations are a danger to almost all of what we think is real. Some will vilify it as Madness. Nevertheless, an honest depiction of reality, whilst questing towards the sublime. After visiting The Rocky Mountains, Atlantis to Zardoz was the first thing I recorded as soon as I walked in. The epic cavernous scope of unending articulations, of massive rock sculptured earth—textured pan- oramic mountains, ravines, vast canyons of snow & the detailed chasms and crevices—all resonate in the stories the music tells. Please give these compositions a chance. If you like the electricity of guitars melting in your brain—whilst driving through misty fog as laser-like beams of sun cut through the haze, or while elevating one’s consciousness in between trips to the office . . . from soulful meditations to cranking at maximum volume, these albums are for you.

    Regardless, if you’re bored of the mainstream, of the radio & what you’ve heard since a kid, please check it out. These were recorded 357American Fool’s Day while writing & editing the book, and provide a background soundtrack to American Fools Day.

    The Epic album “Love Story” of BEREN & LUTHIEN takes the form of unique interpretations, this being the chordal melodic form in mostly solo acoustic composition, neo-classical/Celtic-Medieval— originally created with a psychedelic Post-Progressive Rock band called The Fellowship of the Ring (of New Jersey) . . . Many Legendary performances at theaters, clubs, bars, colleges, amphitheaters, cafes, barns, basements, & the woods.

    Musical inspirations on Beren & Luthien include: Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Stravinsky, Bach, Coltrane, Rush, Black Sabbath, King Crimson & The Mahavishnu Orchestra . . . This album is a blueprint/demo of a developing electric SYMPHONY orchestra coming to fruition . . . retells the dark & esoteric tale of the mortal Beren & the elvish Princess Luthien Tinuviel, during the 2nd age of Middle Earth, thousands of years before the Shire & the Rings of Power . . . An alchemical journey of transcendental Mind, & visceral, transformative, Imagination.

    The Epic of Tolkien’s Beren & Luthien (Acoustic/Electric Prog Symphony) | FOXTROTSKY OMEGA (bandcamp.com) Why? Why listen to these? (Why Tolkien & Sci-fi Dystopia? Why Progressive-Art Rock? Why Avantgarde Jazz?) This isn’t Rock n Roll, nor Pop, it’s Art. (As all music is a craft, respectfully). This is a vision- ary offering, to provide a medium & vehicle to see the world differently. Even to see guitar as an instrument differently, a unique musical trans- formation. On the one hand, evoking the pure range of what’s possible for the many stringed voices, live through the amplifier, mostly without effects, while provoking sounds of sitar, lute, an orchestra or a Miles Davis quintet. To innovate. Expand. To break patterns and cliches. To stimulate thought. To affect consciousness. As both a meditative, & a mental journey, that is unorthodox, unconventional, but evoking this inventive & serious imaginative landscape, however fun as it is—fun! A maximalist mirth.

    This isn’t just a fantasy of psychedelic decadence, but Myth, us- ing structure & form, composing in the moment with intuitive curva- ture, harmonic surprises, of existential frictions & transcending angst. However intellectual, the layers of these vehicles are, this is a raw, visceral sound, pure energy, to be played quiet & relaxed, or blast at maximum volume. Not some overproduced auto-tune. The history 358of the world, the spectrums of our psyche, religions and philosophies, the conflict of good & evil, the fritctions of overcoming our limited or strangling environment, overcoming ourselves, our ego, our neurosis & illustrating the very nature of reality, & the quest for beauty in an im- perfect & dangerous world. Give it a chance & journey. Whether you interpret it as spiritual, mystical or transcendental chaos, this is a bardic seer’s channeled message from the space time continuum. See you there.

  • Louise Landes Levi


    Louise Landes Levi is a poet, translator, musician, and performer whose travels have charted an elaborate constellation of mystic and cosmic pathways. A founding member of Daniel Moore’s Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company, she participated—from 1967 to 1969, alongside Terry Riley and Angus Maclise—in multidisciplinary drama inspired by Artaud’s research with the Tarahumara, the Balinese Gamelan, Tibetan monastic ritual, and Indian dance. Following studies at Mills College with sarangi master Pandit Ram Narayan, Levi traveled alone from Paris through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to reach northern India for research into its musical and poetic tradition. There, she studied with Sri Annapurna Devi and Ustad Abdul Majid Khan, later becoming Ali Ak Bar Khan’s pupil at the Basel Conservatory of Music and in California. Completing her journey in her birthplace of New York, Levi studied with La Monte Young and
    Marian Zazeela, monitoring their Dream House into the 21st century. Levi has translated the work of Henri Michaux and Indian mystic Mira Bai (whose Sweet On My Lips La Monte Young wrote the introduction for) and is responsible for the first English translation of Rene Daumal’s Rasa, or, Knowledge of the Self: Essays on Indian Aesthetics (New Directions, 1982). She has published over a dozen books of her own poetry, most recently Crazy Louise (or la Conversazione Sacra), a series of poems examining sexual trauma from the perspective of an initiate, delineating an oriental interpretation of lunacy to reclaim the notion of the feminine hysterical from its subordinate and abusive occidental role. Levi’s introverted lifestyle and reverence for musical tradition and attainment have left comparatively little space for musical dissemination, but the last decade has seen the reappearance of works from the ‘80s in addition to several contemporary releases featuring contributions from her friends, the late Ira Cohen and Catherine Christer Hennix. Whether alone or with accompaniment, Levi’s elegiac sarangi, bells, and flute exude the feeling of otherworldly, indeed forgotten ritual. Her invocation & interpretive sense of raga, in these recordings, overlaid with spoken and sung poetry, invoke threshold experience, railing against mono culture with a sincerity & presence as sardonic or mournful as it is devotional.

  • Kevin Bartelme

    About Kevin, Upcoming Collected Essential Bartelme Box Set

  • Clayton Patterson

    Clayton Patterson and his wife Elsa Rensaa came to New York City from Canada in 1979. In 1983 they bought a small storefront building on the Lower East Side, and began to document the history, social life, and politics of the neighborhood. Walking the streets of the neighborhood opened an amazing body of photography. Over the years they developed probably the largest inner-city archive in America, hundreds of thousands of photos, plus videos and street ephemera. In 1988 they made a video that became known as the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot tape. It was the first time a handheld, commercially available video camera was used to hold police accountable. Clayton has also edited and published a number of books on Lower East Side history, culture and politics, including Captured: A Film & Video History of the Lower East Side; Resistance: A Radical Social and Political History of the Lower East Side; and the three-volumeJews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side. 

    In 1986 Clayton and Elsa turned their storefront into the Clayton Gallery & Outlaw Art Museum, which has shown a galaxy of artists overlooked by the standard art world hype. Since 2013 he has organized the annual Acker Awards to pay tribute to such artists and the community members who support them. The filmmakers Dan Levin and Ben Solomon made a documentary feature about Clayton and Elsa, Captured, released in 2008. They’ve also been portrayed in graphic novel style in the book Clayton: Godfather of Lower East Side Documentary, edited by Julian Voloj, with work by eighteen artists, published in 2020.

  • Rolando Pérez

    About the Professor

    Rolando Pérez was born in Cuba and is one of the few truly bicultural and bilingual authors writing today. A literary critic and philosopher, as well as a writer of poetry and essays, he has published extensively in both Spanish and English. His books in English include Severo Sarduy and the Neo-Baroque Image of Thought in the Visual Arts (Purdue University Press, 2011), The Divine Duty of Servants (Based on the Artwork of Bruno Schulz) (Cool Grove Press, 1999), The Electric Comedy (Cool Grove Press, 2000), The Lining of Our Souls: Excursions into Selected Paintings of Edward Hopper (Cool Grove Press, 2002), and Tea Ceremonies for Winter (Cool Grove Press, 2018). His literary work has been anthologized in The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature.

    His Spanish-language publications include La comedia eléctrica (Amargord, 2017), Mesetas de espejos (Verbum, 2023), and his most recent nonfiction book, La filosofía del siglo XX: Sus corrientes filosóficas, tensiones y debates fundamentales (Pinolia, 2025), a comprehensive study of the major debates in twentieth century European philosophy.

    Chanoyu for the Seasons is a bilingual quartet of haikus and tankas, with each volume dedicated to a season.

  • Chanoyu for Seasons Box

    By Rolando Pérez

    Chanoyu for the Seasons / Chanoyu para las estaciones is a bilingual four-volume cycle of poetry and prose organized around the seasons and inspired by the Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu. Written in English and Spanish, the quartet brings Japanese poetic and aesthetic traditions into conversation with contemporary Western experience. Its four volumes—Chanoyu for Winter /Chanoyu para el invierno; Chanoyu for Spring/Chanoyu para la primavera; Chanoyu for Summer/Chanoyu para el Verano; and Chanoyu for (the) Fall/Chanoyu para el otoño (en caída)—approach the passage of time through different poetic forms and sensibilities.

    Buy your copy of the Chanoyu for the Seasons / Chanoyu para las estaciones set on:

    Amazon

  • Chanoyu for Winter

    By Rolando Pérez

    In this second edition of Tea Ceremonies for Winter (Cool Grove Press, 2018) now also titled Chanoyu for Winter/Chanoyu para el invierno Rolando Pérez translates the poems originally written in English into Spanish, inviting Spanish-speaking readers to partake in these ceremonies. The term “translation” is used loosely here, for these are less translations than complementary versions of one another. Moreover, the poems here are inspired by haikus, tankas, and chōkas, without being constrained by them.

    In Chanoyu for Winter / Chanoyu Para El Invierno, Rolando Pérez shapes language in the spirit of the Japanese tea ceremony. Between English and Spanish, between winter light and memory’s warmth, these poems honor the fragile beauty of what almost goes unnoticed—a woman ironing a white sheet, snow over grey waters, the hush after a quarrel. Rooted in Zen and the devotion to imperfection, Pérez reminds us that meaning is not declared but steeped, patiently, in the small rituals of daily life. To read this book is to sit quietly with a warm cup in hand, aware of how the simplest moments sustain us.

    —Richard Blanco, 2013 Presidential Inaugural Poet, author of Homeland of My Body

    In his latest books Rolando Pérez demonstrates once again his gift for blending intellectual rigor with lyrical grace. What makes this volume especially distinctive is its bilingual artistry: poems conceived in English are adapted by the author into Spanish, creating a dialogue across languages that enriches their meaning. Like the ritual of preparing tea, each piece unfolds with balance and poise, leaving the reader gratified and enlightened. 

    —Gustavo Pérez Firmat, author of Pulitzer Prize nominated Next Year in Cuba

    Chanoyu for Winter/Chanoyu para el invierno is a 2026 International Latino Book Award winner, honored with the Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award in the Best Bilingual Poetry Book—One Author category.

    This is the first volume of the quartet Chanoyu for the Seasons / Chanoyu para las estaciones. In this sense, the work participates in a larger multiplicity—a dialogue not only between languages but also between temporalities, perspectives, and ways of being.

    Buy your copy of Chanoyu for Winter / Chanoyu para el invierno on:

    Amazon
    Ingram/Spark