Vytautas Pliura

Vytautas Pliura's father was a Lithuanian refugee who came to the U.S. as a Displaced Person after World War II, having survived imprisonment in a concentration camp. His mother, Natalie, a blond beauty of Irish and German descent and a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was working as an RN when she met Vytautas' father, who was finishing his medical internship in Chicago, where Vytautas was born.

Vytautas Pliura grew up as an Illinois farm boy with three farm ponds stocked with bass and catfish. He raised registered Angus cattle that he showed to championships throughout the Midwest. With four sisters and a brother, Vytautas grew up with treehouses in the summer and snow forts in the winter.

His "charmed childhood" gave him a strong base to draw on when he met challenges as a young adult trying to understand his gay orientation.

Vytautas made his way to Los Angeles intoxicated with the idea of being lost in the "big city." He attended UCLA where he studied film production. Upon graduation, he worked as a screenwriter, but had more success in the theatre world of LA, writing directing and producing plays.

He began writing poetry in 1993, almost by "mistake" and got hooked. He's been widely published since.

Vytautas Pliura lives in downtown Los Angeles among the skyscrapers. He has taught elementary school for several years.

Vytautas has had poetry in the publications: Evergreen Chronicles, Chiron Review, James White Review, Bay Windows, Sundog Review, Priapus, DWAN, Goddess Pulp, Zen Baby & RFD. He has appeared in the anthologies: Gents, Badboys and Barbarians, Between the Cracks: The Daedalus Anthology of Kinky Verse, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, A Day for a Lay: A Century of Gay Poetry. His book has been translated into Russian.

Tenderness in Hell