BIOGRAPHY

Graduating in 1968 with a BA in English from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, I taught English in rural, urban, and suburban high schools, Stillwater Prison, and community and technical colleges. In 1976, I completed Master’s work in education at the University of Minnesota and administered Community Programs for its Extension Division. From 1999 to 2002, I served as the editor and publisher of River Images, a magazine showcasing artists and writers from the St. Croix River Valley in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In 2005, I received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota, where I taught literature, composition, and creative writing; in 2006, I taught and advised the undergraduate art and literary magazine, The Ivory Tower. Currently, I teach classes in poetry, nonfiction, and fiction at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, conduct a variety of workshops and run short-short story contests for MinnPost.com.

Prose Publications: “Tourists At Terezin,” Talking Stick, Volume 20, 2011; “The Flood,” The State We’re In, anthology of the Minnesota Historical Society, 2010; “In Montana,” Second Place Winner of the 55-word Fiction Contest, Fine Lines, Volume 19, Spring 2010; “A Floater On The Course,” Best of the Web 2009, anthology by Dzanc Books; “Princess,” Dust and Fire, Spring 2009; “Song For The Kind,” SN Review, Summer 2008; “A Floater on the Course,” hotmetalpress.org, Spring 2008; “Papa,” River Images, Spring 2001; “Blackie,” Community Connections, Summer 2000, Sidewalks, Fall/Winter 1995-96; “The Canning Jar,” Minnesota Parent, May 1999; “The Flood,” Gypsy Cab, 1996; “Mom in Memoir,” Gypsy Cab, Winter 1995; “The Ironing Board,” Community Connections, Winter 1994-95; “The Slough,” Community Connections, Winter 1993-94.

Poetry Publications: Chapbook, My Memoir Dress, Finishing Line Press, 2011.

“Another Portrait Of My Mother,” Grey Sparrow Press, Fall 2011; “Shot Down,” Lake Region Review, 2011; “Going Solo,” Talking Stick, Volume 20, 2011; “Partial Portrait Of My Mother,” Plains Song Review, Vol. XIII, 2011; “Shot Down: Number One,” The Talking Stick, Volume Eighteen, 2010; “The Flax Story,” “Curious” and “Dad,” Plains Song Review, Vol. XII, 2010; “My Memoir Dress,” Dust and Fire, Spring 2009; “Partial Portrait Of My Mother” and “Wildflowers,” hotmetalpress.net, Winter/Spring 2009; “Hold On,” The Broome Review, May 2008, “Song of Experience,” Dust and Fire, March 2006; “Akin To Animals,” “To Be Spring Flowers,” “Salute To Snag,” The Wake, January 26, 2005; “Sense,” Liminal, Spring 2005; “Epithalamium,” “The Scale,” “Song of Experience,” “Hold On,” Program Newsletter 2004 of the University of Minnesota Creative Writing Department; “River Notes,” Sidewalks, 2001; “Aurora Borealis,” Minnesota Chapter News of the Nature Conservancy, Fall 2001, Community Connections, Autumn 2000, and The New Scandia Poets, 1999; “Like Spring Flowers,” Community Connections, Spring 2001; “Lonely,” River Images, Summer 2001; “Fire and Ice (III),” Full Circle 20, 1999; “When,” “A Stone Poem,” “Fire and Ice  (1),” Fire and Ice (2),” The New Scandia Poets, 1999; “When,” River Images, Winter 99; “When I Go,” River Images, Winter 99;  “Memory,” Lake Region Review, Spring / Summer 1998 and River Images, Spring 99; “Marshall, Minnesota / A Memoir,” Fauquier Poetry Journal, July 1998 and River Images, Spring 99; “Stone Poem,” 100 Words, 1997.

Other Publications: 2010 Calendar for Explore Your Roots, Writers Rising Up to Defend Place, Natural Habitats, Wetlands at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum; historical screenplay, Leaving Home, read at the Playwright’s Center in 1999; historical booklet, the Story of Hammer 1923-1998.

Awards: Finalist, Loft Mentor Series, 2010-2011, 2009-2010, 2007-2008; SASE Mentorship, 2008; Short story, “Upturn,” and memoir “Mom,” Creative Work Prizes from the Women Center, St. Catherine University, 2007 and 1996; fellowship, Summer Literary Seminar, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2006; Marcella DeBourg Fellowship, University of Minnesota, 2005; Honorable Mention in Poetry, Gesell Awards, University of Minnesota, 2004; poem, “Things To Do With Tom,” finalist for Garrison Keillor’s Green Light at the End of the Dock Festival of Romantic Writing Contest, 2004; fellowship, Prague Summer Program, 2003.

Other Literary Activities: Lead book club discussions of My Memoir Dress, LaRive Condominiums, Minneapolis, MN, 2011; taught creative writing at the Jewish Community Center, St. Paul, MN, 2010-2011; Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference, Colrain, MA, 2011; The Works: A Writer’s Salon, Bryant-Lake Bowl, Minneapolis, MN, 2010; “converse in verse,” Nina’s Cafe, St. Paul, MN, 2010; Happiness Symposium, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, MN, 2010; judge of A Writing Anthology for Artability, People Incorporated, St. Paul, MN, 2009; served on the commission of the Minnesota Humanities Center to choose the first Poet Laureate of Minnesota, 2007; presentation on a panel at the Associated Writing Program’s annual conference, 2004; public readings at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN; Community Center, Scandia, MN; Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, MN; Minnesota State University, Bemidji, MN; Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, MN; Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, MN; Yellow Tree Theater, Brooklyn Center, MN; St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN; International Peace Gardens, ND and Manitoba, Canada; workshops for Dakota County Libraries, Lakeville, MN; Artability, People Incorporated, St. Paul, MN; University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, MN; Jackpine Writers’ Bloc, Nimrod, MN; Collegeville Institute, Woodstock, VT and Collegeville, MN, ArtReach St. Croix, Stillwater, MN.