Ellen Hirning Schmidt

 Schmidt teaches writing workshops in Ithaca, NY, Star Island, NH, Cornell University, and online. After retiring from a crisis center, she designed Writing through the Rough Spots, a course enabling participants to create clarity about challenging life situations. Her students, aged 18 – 85+, range widely - author, chaplain, felon, hairdresser, musician, physician, prison guard, restaurant server, scientist, therapist… and come from across the US and 15 countries.  She has written poems for most of her life, but only decided to share them publicly at 70.  In the intervening 3 years her poems have appeared in Passager Poetry Contest Issue, The Avocet, Poetry Quarterly, Caesura, Connecticut River Review, Evening Street Press, Blood & Thunder and The Healing Muse.  The title poem of Oh say did you know, Helen Kay Chapbook Prize winner,  was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.