Biography
A native New Yorker, Mark Fishbein graduated CCNY in 1971 and attended the Sorbonne in Paris for Literature. He received an MFA in Poetry in 2025 from Columbia College Chicago. Mark has four collections of poetry available, most recently an ekphrastic “Billboards, Murals, Signs & Street Banners of Chicago” (Shy House Press 2024). He is Chancellor of PGN- Poetry Global Network’s Poetry Academy, hosting lectures, workshops, classes, book clubs, and global festivals, including producing/hosting the Chicago Poetry Festival at the Afterwords Bookstore in Chicago (4th year). He has been featured in Rattle, Allium and many other publications. Also a musician, Poet With Guitar . st received his Ph.D. in Music Theory from Harvard University, where his research explored the design and experience of theoretical concepts for beginning learners. He worked as a Media and Design Fellow at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, developing interdisciplinary courses that connect engineering design, the humanities, and music. Before entering academia, He worked extensively with blind and visually impaired music students and developed music learning software and hardware. In addition to teaching, he now consults with instrument makers and technology companies on questions of how objects and interfaces shape musical understanding. He also designs music toys as a form of research into how physical tools communicate ideas about learning and creativity to broad audiences.