John Sweeder’s books of poetry include Untethered Balloons (2021), Untangling Knots (2022), Upwellings (2025), and The La Salle Christmas Poets: An Anthology (2024) which he edited. His poetry has appeared in Philadelphia Stories, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Burningword Literary Journal, Shantih, Better Than Starbucks, Last Leaves Magazine, and River Poets Journal, among other venues. A winner of the 2023 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest, Finalist of the Adelaide Literary Award for Poetry in 2018 and 2019, and Finalist in the 2019 Willow Run Poetry Book Award, John is listed in the Poets & Writers Directory of Poet & Writers. He is also a member of the Poetry Society of America. John presently resides in Ocean City, New Jersey enjoying back-bay fishing and crabbing when he’s not writing. In addition to his poetry John has published two memoirs, Breathing through a Straw: A Memoir for Baby Boomers and Neurotic Catholics at https://jsweeder.wordpress.com/ [2] as well as Faith Genes for the Blue Jean Generation: A Self-help Memoir (2018), available on Amazon.com.