Editor and founder of Spirited Muse Press Sueann Wells visits the studio to discuss the new press. With her are two poets featured by the press: Jerri Lynn Sparks and Denise Thompson-Slaughter. We discuss the process of working with the editor, the vision Sueann has for the press, and future projects for everyone involved.
About Sueann Wells
Sueann Wells is the founding editor of Spirited Muse Press. She is an adjunct English instructor and academic tutor by day, freelance writer and editor by night. Her work has been published through Foothills Publishing and in various lit journals over the years. She has self-published three collections of motherhood-themed writings by local and national authors in the past few years, and have published my own collections of poetry, including a series of 365-days of linked cinquains celebrating Rochester seasons. Other publishing credentials include encyclopedia articles, reviews, and other more academic works over the years.
About Jerri Lynn Sparks:
Jerri Lynn Sparks is a writer from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She wrote her first poem at age seven and has been writing ever since. Her work has appeared in The Democrat & Chronicle, The Kinston Free Press, Germ Magazine, various editorials and press releases from her days as a Congressional Press Secretary, and most recently in the anthologies “Motherly Musings” and “My Mother Taught Me.” A single mom, Jerri had her children while young and is now on the precipice of an empty nest. To fill her time post-child rearing, she has joined her local volunteer fire department to give back to her community and get more involved. Jerri’s book of true life essays about her Southern childhood and other happenings comes out next year. She makes her home in a sweet little village in Upstate New York.
About Denise Thompson-Slaughter
Denise Thompson-Slaughter has been writing since she was a teenager. Sixty-ish: Full Circle is her second book of published poems; the first was Elemental (Plain View Press, 2010). In addition, she has had one short story, eight short memoir pieces, and over three dozen individual poems published in various literary journals and anthologies. Denise recently retired from her other career as an academic editor, which included stints as assistant editor of World Politics, managing editor of Reviews in American History, and freelance copyeditor for numerous books. She grew up in Maryland, attended college at the University of Maryland and at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she finished her B.A. in English. She currently lives in western New York with her husband, historian Thomas P. Slaughter, and various pets.