Charles Ghigna
Charles Vincent Ghigna (Father Goose) (born August 25, 1946) is a poet, children's author, speaker and nationally syndicated feature writer who promotes the appreciation of children’s literature. He lives in Homewood with his wife, author Debra Ghigna, and their son, Chip.
Ghigna is the author of more than 5,000 poems and sixty books. His books have been featured on ABC-TV’s "Good Morning America" and NPR, selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and awarded the Parents' Choice Book Award.
Ghigna served as poetry editor of The English Journal for the National Council of Teachers of English (1973-1974) and as poet-in-residence for the Alabama School of Fine Arts (1974-1993). He has presented poetry readings and programs at the Library of Congress, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the American Library in Paris, the International Schools of South America and at hundreds of other schools, colleges, conferences, libraries, book fairs, and literary events throughout the U.S. and overseas.
The themes of his books and poetry reflect a celebration of childhood, as well as a reverence for nature and animals. His other subjects and themes include humor, holidays, riddles, seasons, school, sports, and the power of a positive attitude.
His poems for children appear in Cricket, Ladybug, Highlights for Children, Ranger Rick, Children's Digest, Children's Playmate, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Child Life, Guideposts for Kids, Lollipops, Hopscotch, Pockets, Pre-K Today, Storyworks, Turtle, and in many anthologies including The 20th Century Children’s Poetry *Treasury (Knopf), Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry (Little, Brown), and Read A Rhyme Write a Rhyme (Knopf), as well as in the national SAT and ACT tests, and hundreds of anthologies, textbooks, newspapers, journals and magazines.
His poems for adults have appeared in many popular magazines including The New Yorker, Harper's, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's, Writer's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, Guideposts, as well as in many other magazines, literary journals, anthologies and textbooks.
His poem Paul "Bear" Bryant appeared in the Birmingham Post-Herald, December 29, 1983, as a memorial to the legendary coach. A limited edition of signed and numbered prints of the poem with a photograph by Clifford Byrd of Bryant in his classic pose leaning against the goal post appear in the Paul W. Bryant Museum at the University of Alabama and in Birmingham at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Ghigna is the author of Snickers, a daily newspaper feature for Tribune Media Services. More than 2,000 of his light verse poems appeared in newspaper syndication from 1993 to 1998, as well as in many popular magazines. A book of The Best of Snickers was published in 1994.
Publications
- Ghigna, Charles (1973) Plastic Tears. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Company
- Ghigna, Charles (1975) Stables: The Story of Christmas. Birmingham: Creekwood Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1977) Cockroach. Contemporary Drama Service
- Ghigna, Charles (1978) Divers and Other Poems. Birmingham: Creekwood Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1979) Circus Poems. Birmingham: Creekwood Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1989) Returning to Earth. Livingston: University of West Alabama Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1989) Father Songs. Birmingham: Creekwood Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1992) Wings of Fire. Birmingham: Druid Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1992) Good Dogs/Bad Dogs. New York: Hyperion Books for Children
- Ghigna, Charles (1992) Good Cats/Bad Cats. New York: Hyperion Books for Children
- Ghigna, Charles (1994) The Best of Snickers. Birmingham: The Best of Times
- Ghigna, Charles (1994) Tickle Day: Poems from Father Goose. New York: Hyperion Books for Children
- Ghigna, Charles (1994) Speaking in Tongues: New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994. Livingston: University of West Alabama Press.
- Ghigna, Charles (1995) Riddle Rhymes. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.
- Ghigna, Charles (1995) The Day I Spent the Night in the Shelby County Jail. Birmingham: The Best of Times
- Ghigna, Charles (1999) See the Yak Yak. New York: Random House
- Ghigna, Charles (1999) Plastic Soup: Dream Poems. Montgomery: Black Belt Press
- Ghigna, Charles (1999) Mice are Nice. New York: Random House.
- Ghigna, Charles (1999) Love Poems. Birmingham: Crane Hill Publishers
- Ghigna, Charles (1999) "Animal Trunk: Silly Poems to Read Aloud." New York: Harry N. Abrams.
- Ghigna, Charles and Debra Ghigna (2000) Christmas is Coming!. Watertown, Massachusetts: Charlesbridge Publishing
- Ghigna, Charles (2001) Haiku: The Travelers of Eternity. Montgomery: River City Publishing
- Ghigna, Charles (2002) The Alphabet Parade. Montgomery: River City Publishing.
- Ghigna, Charles (2002) One Hundred Shoes. Random House
- Ghigna, Charles (2003) A Fury of Motion: Poems for Boys. Boyds Mills Press
- Ghigna, Charles (2003) Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems. Running Press
- Ghigna, Charles (2004) Animal Tracks: Wild Poems to Read Aloud. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
- Ghigna, Charles (2005) If You Were My Valentine. Simon & Schuster
- Ghigna, Charles (2005) Dylan the Smokey Dragon. Maris, West & Baker
- Ghigna, Charles (2005) Oh My, Pumpkin Pie!. Random House
- Ghigna, Charles (2006) Poems 1974-2005, Pudding House
- Ghigna, Charles (2008) SCORE! 50 Poems to Motivate and Inspire. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
- Ghigna, Charles (2008) Snow Wonder. Random House
For appearances of Ghigna's work in textbooks and anthologies, see "Charles Ghigna: Anthologies", and for magazine and journal contributions, see "Charles Ghigna: Magazines", both at charlesghigna.com
References
- Jesus, Diego X. and Mark London (January 2008) "Goose Cooking: And his gaggle grows gargantuan" Inkwell Newswatch
- Teague, Christopher (January 2008) "The World's Shortest Poem" Inkwell Newswatch
- LeGrand, Lissa (July 19, 2007) "The Poetry of Charles Ghigna". Interview for WBHM-FM's "Tapestry"
- Charles Ghigna (Father Goose): An explication and bio-bibliographical guide. The Contemporary Authors Series. Volume 137. Thomson-Gale, 2005.