HEATHER THOMAS

biography

Heather Thomas is a poet, essayist, and playwright whose recent work addresses poetry’s relation to war and terrorism. Her five books of poetry include Resurrection Papers (Chax Press, 2003), which was also published this year in a bilingual Spanish-English edition, and Practicing Amnesia (2000, Singing Horse Press). Under the signature H. T., she wrote Circus Freex (Pine Press and Standing Stones Press, 1995) and Voiceunders (Texture Press, 1993).  Her play Blue Firefly about growing up in poet Wallace Stevens' Reading, Pa., birthplace was written and performed for Ten Minutes From Reading play festival.  Heather’s poems have been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals including American Letters & Commentary, Washington Review, Five Fingers Review, and 13th Moon, and her work has been translated into Spanish and Lithuanian.  She has received two Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative American Poetry, and other awards from the Academy of American Poets and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.  Heather has given readings in Argentina, Russia, Ireland, and throughout the U.S.  A founding co-editor of 6ix magazine, she is an associate poetry editor for the online journal 5Trope.  Heather is a professor of English/Professional Writing at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and has a master’s degree and doctorate from Temple University.  She has also taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado.