Dan Harder (writer)

Harder writes poetry, stage plays, opera librettos, novels, children’s books, and journalism.

He devised “zipper poetry” in which he zips two poems into a third by interlinking the lines of each of the two separate poems. The sum of the parts becomes a whole new whole.[3] According to Harder’s self-imposed rules, each poem must be able to stand alone and make sense semantically and syntactically. The first fully realized exploration of this form was in his poetry book, Askew (2007).[4]

This was followed by an opera (music by Nathaniel Stookey) commissioned by Michael Morgan of the Oakland East Bay Symphony entitled Zipperz (2008)[5] which was subsequently recorded and released by Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom/Warner records (2017).[6] As a composer, Stookey was attracted to Harder’s zippered format because, like music, it is distinctly contrapuntal — two parts are independent and self-sufficient but together form a harmonious whole.[7] Because of this formal style, the narrative of Zipperz simultaneously interweaves the attractions, fears, joys, and insights of a man and woman who meet, date, and -- eventually in love – zip their lives together.[8]

The zippered form was also used with three voices in his stage play A Killer Story (2017)[9] and was featured in The Untouchables…, a series of his poems about the unhoused published on the front page of the Opinion Section, San Francisco Chronicle (2018).[10]

Harder and composer Carlos Simon have created a dramatic oratorio, “Here I Stand” about famous singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson that will be premiered by the Oakland East Bay Symphony in 2024.[11]

Harder has also written 2 children’s books Colliding with Chris[12] and A Child's California,[13] as well as numerous features and articles[14] for the Los Angeles Times,[15] the San Francisco Chronicle[16] and commentaries for NPR,[17] 2 photo-essay books,[18][19] numerous stage plays,[20][21] and a novel, Rancho de Amor.[22]