Steve Cannon is the executive director of A Gathering of the Tribes, an arts and culture nonprofit dedicated to uplifting underrepresented and new voices, which he founded in New York City's Lower East Side in 1991. Cannon's fiction work "Groove Bang and Jive Around" has been called an underground cult hit, and he continues to publish poetry and speak at events. Cannon lost his eyesight in 1989 and is therefore also known as the blind professor of the Lower East Side. He continues to publish an online magazine at tribes.org.