Lesléa Newman has created 75 books for readers of all ages including the poetry collections, Still Life with Buddy, October Mourning: A Song For Matthew Shepard (novel-in-verse), I Carry My Mother, and the forthcoming I Wish My Father. Her literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. From 2008 - 2010, she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA. Currently she teaches at Spalding University's low-residency MFA in Creative and Professional Writing program.