Amar Ravva lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is working on his first manuscript, a work of non-fiction called American Canyon, that blends South Indian and Californian history, memoir, poetry, documentary, and compassion. He is currently an adjunct faculty member of the English Division of Glendale Community College and freelances as a web designer.

May 2004. M.F.A. Writing & Integrated Media, California Institute of the Arts.

May 2000. B.A. Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley. Undergraduate Thesis "Antigone Before the Law" — Faculty Advisor: Judith Butler.

Spring 2005 – Present. Adjunct Faculty, English Division, Glendale Community College.

Spring 2005. Adjunct Instructor, Liberal Arts Division, Cerritos Community College.

Fall 2003 – Spring 2004. Teaching Assistant, Writing Arts, California Institute of the Arts.

Spring 2003. Teaching Assistant, Conservation & the Environment, California Institute of the Arts.

Spring 1996. Undergraduate Student Instructor, English 98/198 "Contexts of Writing", U.C. Berkeley. Developed and taught a creative writing class under the guidance of faculty advisor Ishmael Reed.

August 19 – September 23, 2006. Mixed media installation: Suburban Geomancy, in Knock, Knock — Whose Home?, Acorn Gallery, Highland Park, Ca.

March 11 – April 10, 2005. Labels/Tags for Shopdropping: Experiments in the Aisle, at Pond, San Francisco, Ca.

September 20 – October 20, 2004. Single channel video installation: Lufkin Project, in DPI 2004, Keith & Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, CalPoly, Pomona, Ca.

May 8, 2004. Screening of 1977, for the MFA Writing Showcase at RedCat, Los Angeles, CA.

March 9 – 12, 2004. Four channel video installation: Awakening the Pheasants, with musical performance by Amar Ravva, Kadet Kuhne, Jason Brown and d.g. eng, Black & White Studio, CalArts, Valencia, Ca.

March 8 – 11, 2003. Single channel video installation: Lufkin Project, in the Black & White Studio, CalArts, Valencia, Ca.

Feb 18 – March 1 2003. Art show: Palani, stills from documentary video work, South India, Summer 2001 in the “CUBE”, CalArts, Valencia, Ca.

October 15, 2006. LA-Lit 1 Year Anniversary, Panel discussion and performances with Will Alexander, Diane Ward, Guy Bennett, Anthony McCann, Mathew Timmons, Stephanie Rioux & Ara Shirinyan, Beta Level, Los Angeles, Ca.

August 27, 2006. Smell Last Sunday of the Month Reading Series, with Rodney Koeneke, Sawako Nakayasu & Joseph Mosconi, The Smell, Los Angeles, Ca.

February 21, 2006. Nico Vassilakis and Amarnath Ravva, Reading with Nico Vassilakis and performance by the Global Village Collective of "Flag" by Ara Shirinyan, Beta Level, Los Angeles, Ca.

February 4, 2006. The Moving Word, curated by David Gatten & Jen Hofer, with performances by Andrew Choate & Maggie Nelson and films by Rebecca Baron, Susan Simpson, David Wilson, Lee Lych & Lee Anne Schmitt. Los Angeles, Ca.

December 5, 2005. LA-Lit: Amarnath Ravva, Interview + Podcast co-hosted & produced by Stephanie Rioux & Mathew Timmons, Beta Level, Los Angeles, Ca.

August 13, 2005. Red Rover Series, with Emily Abendroth & Chris Nagler, The Spare Room, Chicago, Il.

March 19, 2005. Moles not Molars series, with Amina Cain & Janet Neigh, La Tazza, Philadelphia, Pa.

October 13, 2003. Diaspora Poetics Series, with Jaimie Cortez, New Langton Arts, S.F., Ca.

March 16, 2003. Diesel Bookstore, Oakland, with Patricia Ikeda, Elizabeth Treadwell, Tiffany Higgins, Summi Kaipa, Dodie Bellamy, Aja Duncan, devorah major, Brenda Hillman, Khan Wong, & Elizabeth Robinson for nocturnes #2.

August 15, 2002. Performed in Eileen Tabios’ “Poem Tree” for Interlope #8, Locus, S.F., Ca.

August 11, 2002. Kearney Street Workshop, San Francisco, with Summi Kaipa, titled “Desi Voices”.

September 23, 2001. Diesel Bookstore, Oakland, with Chris Daniels, Aja Duncan, Brenda Hillman, Arnold Kemp, Kevin Killian, David Meltzer, & "D. Scot" Miller for nocturnes #1.

February 24, 2001. Interlope #6 release celebration with contributors Alvin Lu and Chris Chen. Film by Tatsu Aoki with live musical accompaniment by Yasuhiro Otani. Asian American Cultural Association, Oakland, Ca. December 2000.

Spring 2005 – Present Associate Editor and member of the editorial board of Critical Studies.

Fall 2001 – Present Board of Advisors, nocturnes, (re)view of the literary arts.

May 19 – 22, 2005 Editor & designer of a web art piece for nocturnes, (re)view of the literary arts, shown at AfroGeeks 2005, Center for Black Studies at U.C. Santa Barbara.

November 2003 Editor of the Blue/Print CD with Douglas Kearney and giovanni singleton for nocturnes #3, which focused on ‘the blues’.

2002 – 2003 Editorial assistant for Black Clock, ed. by Steve Erickson and Bruce Bauman.

1997 – 2000 Editor & designer of The Berkeley Poetry Review: Issue #31, the 25th anniversary issue, #32, and corresponding website for that issue.

Forthcoming Writing the Lines of our Hands, ed. by Summi Kaipa, Pireeni Sundaralingam, & Neela Banerji.

In Press Contemporary Voices from the East: An anthology of poems, ed. by Ravi Shankar, Tina Chang & Nathalie Handal. W.W. Norton & Co.

Fall 2006 Trepan. Issue #5, Ed. by Jason Brown & Mathew Timmons, Selections from American Canyon — "Shim's Flat" & "--:--:--:--".

Fall 2005 nocturnes, (re)view of the literary arts. Ed. by giovanni singleton, Issue #4. Selections from American Canyon.

Fall 2002 nocturnes, (re)view of the literary arts. Issue #2. "Rakhi" and "Palani".

Fall 2001 nocturnes, (re)view of the literary arts. Issue #1. "Radhika" and "Podillama".

August 2000 Interlope, A journal of Asian American poetics and issues. Ed. by Summi Kaipa, Issue #5. "Airline Music", "Barking Spiders", and "Bear Scat Flat".

May 1998 Interlope, Issue #1. "From, Reno Among Controlled Forest Fires", "I am Burning a Pig in my Room, Apollinaire", "Dead Watch Batteries", & "Waiting, Cooking".

1997 – 1998 The Berkeley Poetry Review. Ed. by Amar Ravva & Amanda Davidson, Issue #31. "Lassen National Park" and "Waiting, Cooking".

1995 – 1997 The Berkeley Poetry Review. Ed. by Summi Kaipa & Amanda Davidson, Issue #30. "Grapefruit and Blackberries".