Poet Biographies

selected poetry
Afrika

e.g. bailey
A man of many talents, e.g. bailey was born in Liberia and came to the United States in 1979. After moving to the Twin Cities in 1993, he became a founding member of Sirius B, a black male performance ensemble; @rkology, a spoken word and music collective; and Spine, a writers’ group developed by the Loft and Walker Art Center. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, bailey won the Hughes Knight Diop Poetry Award in 1995 and has published in Drumvoices Revue, an African American literary journal.

selected poetry
Places

Ted Bowman
Ted Bowman has been listening to stories all his life. As an educator, trainer, and consultant, he specializes in change and transition, whether it occurs in families, organizations, or communities. He has worked professionally both nationally and internationally and has taught family education courses at the University of Minnesota since 1981. He also is a board member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy.

selected poetry
Out

Stephen Burt
As an assistant professor, Stephen Burt teaches writing and literature courses at Macalester College in St. Paul. He received his Ph.D. in English from Yale University and his A.B. in English and American literature from Harvard University. Columbia University Press published his book Randall Jarrell and His Age in 2002, and his poems have appeared in such magazines as the Blue Moon Review, Barrow Street, Slope, and Elixir.

selected poetry
Evolution

honorable mention poetry
Home Is Where Your Heart Is?

Shá Cage
A graduate of Macalester College, Shá Cage is an artist, poet, actor, playwright, and filmmaker. She is managing director of MaMa mOsAiC, a female theater collective, and development director for both Trú Rúts Endeavors and the Minnesota Spoken Word Association. She
finished her first full-length play, Famous Amos, in 2003 with support from the Playwright Center. She strongly believes in building and nurturing diverse communities and revels in themes of social awareness and home.

selected poetry
Home

Naomi Cohn
A novelist and poet, Naomi Cohn earns her bread-and-butter by fundraising for Keystone Community Services and teaching at the Loft Literary Center. Her community involvement includes past service as a cochair for the National Writers Union Twin Cities Local and as a cofounder of the NWU Literary Group. She has published her work in Fish Stories, Disclosure, and Conscious Choice and recently received a VSA Arts of Minnesota 2004 Artist Recognition Grant.

selected poetry
Home Without a Home
American Dream

honorable mention poetry
A Place of My Own

Tim Connelly
Tim Connelly has been a soldier, a journalist, and a man without a home. He now has a home and has discovered poetry as a way to express his feelings about war, poverty, and the human condition. His work can be found on-line at Poets Against the War, Voices in Wartime, Writers Against War, and LuluPress.com.

selected poetry
Deconstructing Home Part II

Kathryn A. Cullen
Kathryn A. Cullen knew she was going to be a writer at age 12 when she received five dollars for her winning essay on “Dr. Dentist Toothbrushes” in a national school contest. Pregnant and married at 17, she relegated her literary talent to writing checks, letters to bill collectors, and itty bitty poems on scratch paper. Five kids and one divorce later, she received an M.A. from Mankato State University in 1990 and makes her living as a freelance writer.

selected poetry
In Eden

Amy L. Doeun
Amy L. Doeun graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of Saint Catherine in 2003. She currently works as a freelance journalist and often writes about the issue of cultural identity. She lives in St. Paul with her husband and son, who, she says, “provide all the inspiration she needs.”

selected poetry
Where Does My Mail Go?

Joyce M. Garcia
Joyce M. Garcia grew up in northern Minnesota and has been writing since her teens. Her poetry has been featured in several local competitions and focuses on such subjects as social change and the impact of disabling illnesses. Although her themes can be serious, Garcia also captures the lighter side, creating word images of life’s many pleasures.

selected poetry
This Dollar

honorable mention poetry
homeless

Leigh Herrick
Born into poverty in 1958, Leigh Herrick lived with her grandparents while her divorced mother worked three jobs. With the aid of federal grants, Herrick attended the University of Minnesota, graduating with degrees in English literature and French. A recipient of several awards and fellowships, she has published her poems in Howling Dog Press, Kalliope, and MARGIE. Her newly released CD is available as part of her Free Poetry Project.

selected poetry
A Place Called Home

Evelyn D. Klein
A long-time resident of the Twin Cities area, Evelyn Klein earned her B.S. in secondary education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and her M.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. A freelance writer and lecturer, she currently teaches at the Germanic-American Institute in St. Paul. She also has edited and contributed to the multicultural anthology Stage Two: Poetic Lives and has published in numerous journals.

selected poetry
Homeless Poem

Katherine Greene Lewis
As a guardian ad litem, Katherine Greene Lewis works for Ramsey County Juvenile Court, representing children who are in out-of-home placements. She has written poetry for most of her life and has taught at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Hebei University in Baoding, China. Her poems have received a variety of awards and have been published in a number of magazines and journals.

selected poetry
An Image of Home

Ruthann Hanson Magler
RuthAnn Hanson Magler has a master’s degree in theology. A self-described “63-year-old woman who has been writing poetry for thirty years,” she has read her works at area colleges, local coffeehouses, and in Maui, Hawaii. She lives in an artists’ co-op in St. Paul and says, “Poetry stimulates my brain and calms my heart.”

selected poetry
No Place

Stephen Morse
An award-winning poet, Stephen Morse has published his work in The Saturday Review, The Greenfield Review, and many small presses. He has a master’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University and currently edits Juice Online, a Web-based magazine featuring contemporary poetry. Since 1982, Morse and his well-known wife, poet Judy Brekke, have lived in Minnesota, where they raised their family.

selected poetry
Home

Tim Nolan
Born in Minneapolis, Tim Nolan lives with his wife and three children in the same neighborhood where he grew up. A partner in the law firm of Rider Bennett, he practices in the areas of real estate and construction litigation. He also has an M.F.A. degree from Columbia University and has published his poetry in such periodicals as The Nation, Ploughshares, and Poetry East.

selected poetry
Ready to Rent

Judith Pinke
Judith Pinke has been writing poetry for decades. At the same time, she has worked in the public policy sector and as a private consultant. She also helped create the HousingLink, which was established in 1997 as a clearinghouse for information about affordable housing. Pinke has a B.A. in English and recently began taking graduate courses in psychology. Among her teachers, she credits Marge Piercy for constantly reminding her to keep the “edge” in her poems.

selected poetry
Not Home
Smaller

honorable mention poetry
Leaving

Laura Purdie Salas
Laura Purdie Salas started out writing for grown-ups before discovering that kids and teens are the best audience. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Central Florida, after moving out of her parents’ house at the age of 16. That event gave her lots of practical experience as a young person living on her own. The Child Welfare League of America published her latest book, Taking the Plunge: A Teen’s Guide to Independence, in 2004.

selected poetry
Walking with Wilson

Kenneth Lee Smith
Born and raised in Queens, New York, Kenneth Lee Smith was inspired to write by his 11th-grade English teacher, who would stand on her desk wrapped in a shawl reciting poetry and Shakespeare. He has a B.S. from City University of New York and an M.A. in public administration from the University of Colorado. He works as a policy analyst for the St. Paul City Council, takes classes at the Loft, and writes both poetry and short stories.

selected poetry
Bulldozed and Buried

Debra J. Stone
A cofounder of the Northside Writers Group, Debra Stone helped edit Day by Day, a 1995 volume of poetry and short stories by women undergoing treatment for chemical dependency. Stone works as a project coordinator for the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community at the University of Minnesota. She also is busy writing Russell Avenue Kids, a book about imaginary people living on her childhood street in north Minneapolis.

selected poetry
The Heart of the House
House Key

Susan Marie Swanson
Susan Marie Swanson holds a master of fine arts degree in English from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and has received grants from both the Bush and McKnight foundations. For more than twenty years, she has been writing poetry with children through COMPAS Writers and Artists in the Schools. Her most recent book is a picture book illustrated by Christine Davenier, The First Thing My Mama Told Me.

selected poetry
804 Parkman

Noukou Thao
Noukou Thao lives in St. Paul in a duplex with her husband and daughter. She moved to Minnesota from Milwaukee, where she received a B.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin. Before going freelance, she wrote grant proposals for the Women’s Association of
Hmong and Lao. She has been published in the Hmong Tribune, Paj Ntaub Voice, Siren, and the Asian American Renaissance Literary Journal. Her poem “804 Parkman” is about her family’s first
home in America.

selected poetry
I Can Taste This House

Marilynne Thomas Walton
A graduate of the College of Saint Catherine, Marilynne Thomas Walton received her bachelor’s degree in both English and library science. She worked as a librarian in St. Paul and in New York City, where she lived for many years. A winner of the Loft’s Le Poeme contest, she has published in such journals and anthologies as The Northland Review, Loonfeather, and Concert at Chopin’s House. In addition to writing, her passions include her family and their “little red house with the big green fir tree.”

selected poetry
January First

Maya Washington
Maya Washington holds a B.A. in theater from the University of Southern California and is currently working on an M.F.A. in writing at Hamline University in St. Paul. As a professional actor, she has appeared at the Guthrie Theater and the Children’s Theatre Company, as well as at a number of venues in Los Angeles. She currently works as a writer, arts educator, and choreographer at the Youth Performance Company in Minneapolis.