Chester Stoney was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and raised in the uptown neighborhood of the city. He lived there with his mother and four older sisters until he left for college. While in Harrisburg he often wrote poems about love and the ills of his city in a notebook he carried around in his backpack. Some of his greatest inspirations were Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Lupe Fiasco and T. S. Eliot. He attended the University of Pittsburgh after high school attaining a bachelor’s degree in English Writing in 2009. It was during his time at the university when he began the work of his first major collection of poems entitled “Blackspace”.

Recently, Chester has received his Master of Education degree from Carlow University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He currently works as an 11th grade English teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He insures that poetry remains a part of his students’ curriculum and encourages them to write something every day.

You can contact Mr. Stoney via e-mail at cestoney@gmail.com or by sending an e-mail to TimBookTu and it will be forwarded.