Five Women Poets is a writing workshop formed in 1974 by Antonia Matthew and Helen May. They had just completed a class with poet Sandra Gilbert at IU and were reluctant to give up the encouragement and helpful criticism that working with other writers provides.

The actual number of participants changes from year to year, but the group has continued without a break. This CD is offered in celebration of the group's thirtieth year by those members who are currently active. Five Women Poets has published two chapbooks. This is their first CD.

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Joyce B. Adams

has been writing poetry since 1994. She draws on her experience of living in Europe and numerous States, as well as from nature and from language itself. She is the author of the chapbook "Secret Swing", Finishing Line Press, 2000.

Patricia C. Coleman

loves writing, painting, and storytelling. She is hostess and producer of the Runcible Spoon Poetry Series, founder of Green Dove Network,Indiana Holistic Health Network, and a Poets for Peace facilitator. She is a long-time member of the Bloomington Storytellers Guild, Editor of "Beautiful Biscuits".

Anne Haines

has lived in Bloomington, Indiana since 1979. Her poems have been published in a number of literary journals and several anthologies. She's never quite sure whether she's writing a personal ad or a biographical statement; in any event, she claims to be working on a full-length manuscript of her poetry, tentatively entitled Land Mammal. She's been a member of Five Women Poets since 2001.

Antonia Matthew

was born in England and has lived in Bloomington since 1968. She is one of the founding members of Five Women Poets. She writes fiction as well as poetry and has completed a play about her experiences in the Second World War.

Helen May

is a native of Monroe County and feels strongly bonded to the land. She has been writing for many years, and has chosen poems for this reading that reflect her rural life.

Anya Peterson Royce

is an ethnographer, writer, teacher, and poet. Her thirty-five years of anthropological research, especially with the Zapotec of Mexico, are a source for much of her poetry. For her, poetry is a medium through which to see other voices into being.