Intro

Welcome to issue #5 of PATCHWORK, the on-line journal of artists and writers who have worked either with Patricia Lee Lewis, or with the editors of this issue, introduced below. These editors shared their talents and commitment to the creative writing process with each of the writers who are published here. We thank them and all those whose work makes this issue of PATCHWORK outstanding.

Patricia Lee Lewis, Senior Editor & Publisher Patricia Lee Lewis, founder of Patchwork Farm Retreat, holds an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Vermont College, and a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from Smith College. She is an Affiliate of Amherst Writers & Artists. Her book of poems, A Kind of Yellow, won first prize in Writer's Digest's International Competition for Self-Published Books. For the past twelve years, she has led creative writing workshops and retreats at Patchwork Farm and sacred sites around the world.


Celia Jeffries, Managing Editor Celia Jeffries is an MFA candidate at Lesley University in fiction and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines, in the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper and most recently, in Westview: the Journal of Western Oklahoma. She will be offering a writing workshop at Forbes Library in Northampton this fall.


Diana Gordon, Poetry Editor D M Gordon's prizewinning short stories and poems have appeared in a variety of journals, including Nimrod, descant, Weber Studies and The South Carolina Review. She is a 2006 finalist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in fiction, and was a 2004 finalist for the same award in Poetry. Gordon founded a number of literary programs for the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA and is an associate for Writers In Progress and free lance editor. Much of what she knows about honoring the creative life of others, she learned from her many hours at Patchwork Farm.


Jacqueline Sheehan, Prose Editor Jacqueline Sheehan, Ph.D. is a fiction writer and essayist. Her first novel, Truth, was published in 2003 by Free Press. Her second novel, The Year of Animal Hearts, will be published in 2007 by Avon. For more information about Sheehan, and her recent work as editor of the anthology Women Writing in Prison, see www.jacquelinesheehan.com.


Steve O'Halloran, Poetry Assistant Editor Steve O'Halloran lives in western Massachusetts and remains astonished.


Alyssa Anne Lovell, Poetry Assistant Editor Alyssa Anne Lovell works as an Occupational Therapist in the hilltowns and Berkshires of Western MA. Otherwise, she listens to birds, gardens, and plays Scrabble. She is working on a poetry manuscript with guidance from the Patchwork Farm Manuscript Group this year. One of her favorite lines is from Elizabeth Bishop: "Home-made, home-made! But aren't we all?" (from "Crusoe in England").


Marianne Banks, Prose Assistant Editor Marianne Banks is working on her second novel. When not writing, she works at a self-storage facility helping people deal with their ‘stuff’. She lives happily in Leeds, Massachusetts, with a woman whom she can now call her legal next of kin.


Rita Whitlock Marks, Prose Assistant Editor Rita Whitlock Marks credits her experience in psychiatric nursing for the development of her fictional characters. She credits her involvement in the Puerto Rican community of Philadelphia for the inspiration for her current novel, Home in the Place of In-Between. The recipient of two first place fiction awards, Rita is planning a trilogy spanning three generations, both on the island of Puerto Rico and on the mainland. When not writing or reading she enjoys quilting, golf, and long walks in the New England woods.