May 2024

Randy “Sherpa” Brown embedded with his former Iowa Army National Guard unit as a
civilian journalist in Afghanistan, May–June 2011. He served in uniform for 20 years,
with one overseas deployment in 2003. He subsequently authored the award-winning
poetry collection Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poems from Inside the Wire. He is a
former editor of community and metro newspapers, as well as national trade and
consumer newsstand magazines, and is now a freelance writer, editor, and independent
publisher.

His essays, journalism, and poetry have appeared widely both on-line and in
print. His on-cover book credits include co-editing the anthologies Why We Write: Craft
Essays on Writing War and Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about
Military Gear. Brown is a three-time poetry finalist in the annual Col. Darron L. Wright
Memorial Writing Awards, administered by the Chicago-based literary magazine Line of
Advance.

On May 15, 2024, he will be a featured speaker at the launch event for the
second edition of Issued: Stories of Service, an annual literary journal published at
Arizona State University. Learn more about the event at: issuedjournal.com and more
about Brown at linktr.ee/randysherpabrown.
 
Brown will be speaking on topics related to 21st century war poetry—and how many of
us can write about experiences with the military, even if from the perspectives of family
members, voters, and taxpayers. He also promises to offer editorial insights on “how-to
craft effective bio-blurbs”—short statements of writerly experiences and personality.