About the Author

Mark Goggins was born in Charleston, S.C. on October 13, 1966 during the latter stages of the Civil Rights movement and during the birth of what became known as the Black Power movement.

He graduated from high school in 1985 and joined the U.S. Army where he served four years as a cavalry scout trained in reconaissance and surveillance. He began writing poetry in the early 1990's as a way to express his innermost feelings about the racism and discrimination he encountered and saw others encounter.

Several years earlier he was introduced to a recording of Malcolm X by a fellow soldier in the army and it was love at first listen. However, Malcolm was dead and Mark felt dismayed that he knew of no living Black person who spoke the way Malcolm spoke. That is until he heard the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan around 1992. Farrakhan's delivery of Elijah Muhammad's teachings resonated so deeply that Mark decided to incorporate some of those teachings into poetry form.

Mark had always loved hip-hop but hated the direction hip-hop was headed as "gangsta rap" started to dominate the airwaves. Mark was a frequent attendee at Nation of Islam mosques in S.C. and became the radio-voice of the Nation in the months preceding the Million Man March which Mark attended.

Mark was also an activist in Charleston participating in marches and protests. He has also been a contributing writer of poetry and articles for the Charleston Chronicle for nearly a decade. It was after the Million Man March that Mark committed himself to doing a book of poetry highlighting the plight of the suffering Black masses.

His dream of writing a book of poetry has finally come true in the form of his debut book, "Catalyst For A Black Revolution." This book is a culmination of some of the best of Mark's work over the past decade and it has been highly-anticipated by many. Never one to rest on his laurels, Mark is already hard at work on "Catalyst For A Black Revolution, Vol.II ," which he hopes to release in 2006.

Mark is married with 3 beautiful children.