Sana Mulji Dutt is currently training for her Certificate in Poetry Therapy.  She has facilitated poetry workshops at the Esplanade Assisted Living Center in White Plains, the Nyack Library, the Clarkstown Senior Center, Nyack Elementary School and is currently facilitating the YWCA Affordable Housing workshops.

Kathryn Fazio  was named Poet Laureate of the College of Staten Island, CUNY where she won the Ed Rehberg Prize for Poetry and the Ferrara Scholarship from the Performing and Creative Arts Department.  Her poems have been published in numerous literary anthologies as well as other poetry magazines.  Ms. Fazio has been featured on several radio shows in the New York metropolitan area.  She also appeared on Brooklyn Cable show, Earth is Not On Tape, it’s companion CD series, and the Manhattan Cable show Earthbird. (from en(compasse) book) . Kathryn Fazio began her work in 1984 under the direction of her oil painting professor Pat Passlof. Soon after, renowned painter Milton Resnick took an interest in Ms. Fazio’s poetry and supported the publishing of 205: A book of poetry by people who paint. Subsequently, Ms. Fazio won the College of Staten Island’s first Ed-Rehberg Prize for Poetry, naming her poet laureate. She authored, A Taste of Hybrid Vigor: New Poems of War, Passion and Social Significance and received the Silla Gold Crown World Peace Literature Prize in 2004. Her work has been featured on public radio stations WNYE-FM, WBAI-FM, and WOR-AM. As the grant recipient of the Brooklyn Economic Development Corp. she founded The Mobile Poetry, a project of KMFenterprises which travels within the five boroughs assisting vulnerable populations, and interstate for Red Cross disaster fundraising efforts. One of her most prized experiences is meeting Usha Akella, founder of The Poetry Caravan, and being published in the Poetry Caravan anthology, en (compass). (from 10/26/05 email from Kathryn for Cornelia Street reading on 11/17/05)

Alice V. Feeley, RDC, a native of Brooklyn, NY, has taught at the elementary, high school and college levels.  Currently, Alice Feeley is President of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion, White Plains.  Alice began writing poetry about twelve years ago and has had some of poems published, e.g., America, Inkwell,  and in*tense magazines as well as Let the Poets Speak.  Alice won first prize in the adult division of the 2003 Greenburgh Arts Council Poetry Contest and delivered an original commemorative poem on 9/11/03 at a groundbreaking ceremony in Hartsdale for the wall of tiles created by local residents in response to the tragedy of 9/11.

Helene Fishman is a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, scuba diver, photographer, gardener, observer and listener.  A trained social worker, she has been writing poetry in fits and starts since the third grade.  She is interested in world news so that she understands that local news or squabbles can be unimportant in the big picture.

Kate M. Gallagher received her BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Pomona College.  She has studied poetry with Marvin Bell and Jorie Graham at the University of Iowa, and has participated in poetry readings in New York City and Westchester.  She is also an editor, and teaches Creative Writing for children, adults, and the developmentally disabled at the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts and The Kids Short Story Connection in Greenburgh, NY.

Ruth Handel writes poetry to honor creation and to try to make sense of the world. Her poems have been published in several literary anthologies in print and on the web. She was a winner of 1996 Greenburgh, NY poetry contest and has presented readings of her poetry throughout the tri-state area. A political activist and retired professor of education, she has published academic papers and books throughout her professional career, including Building Family Literacy in an Urban Community (Teachers College Press, 1999).  A New York native and long-time Westchester resident, Ruth has traveled many parts of the world, always with eager eyes and ears, pencil and notebook at the ready. She thinks the Poetry Caravan is one of the best ideas around.

Adrienne Hernandez is a poet and naturalist who lives in Hartsdale, New York.  She is a wife, the mother of two children and a kindergarten teacher.

Ina Marks says English is her second language. She learned how to speak it very fast. She learned how to read very fast. She never learned how to spell. She carries her Webster’s Dictionary from room to room when she has the urge to write a poem. Her friends like her poems.

Laura Pacher North has a BA in Comparative Literature from CCNY and an MA in Creative Writing from CCNY.  She teaches at Lehman College.  She writes poetry and personal narratives and her dream is to finish a novel about her father who has been dead more than half her life but who left behind a legacy of intrigue and sorrow.  She is an animal rescuer and lives in Yonkers with seven cats and one dog.

Laura Pacher North has a BA in Comparative Literature from CCNY and an MA in Creative Writing from CCNY.  She teaches at Lehman College.  She writes poetry and personal narratives and her dream is to finish a novel about her father who has been dead more than half her life but who left behind a legacy of intrigue and sorrow.  She is an animal rescuer and lives in Yonkers with seven cats and one dog.

Leon Pantirer was born in the Bronx in 1930 and has been writing poetry for the past twenty-five years.  He has written several stories and many short stories that he believes are interesting for children, teenagers, and adults.  His poetry has personal impact as well as humorous endings.  They vary in the different and many miscellaneous subjects from articles in the NY Times, politics and sports, to the everyday events that suddenly pop up in life.

Clare Rosenfield writes poetry, essays, and stories, paints, meditates, and teaches people how to heal themselves in a holistic approach she calls Contact Healing ™.  A Smith College graduate, former French teacher in Boston, Lagos, and Bangkok, and a social worker who received her M.S. from Columbia University, Clare integrates therapeutic approaches from East and West.  She co-directs the Global Healing Foundation which shares creative ways to heal each other and our planet.  Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary and therapeutic journals and anthologies.  She has two books of poems and illustrations, Roll On Great Earth, and The Call Of Mother Earth: How A Being Of Light Draws Forth Humanity’s Response.  She and her husband have two married children and four grandchildren.

Yselle Shapiro is a performance poet who first got into print at age 14. Since then she has had many adventures. Most recently she read at the open mike on Division Street in Peekskill. She has been Jammin’ for 25 years and nobody will believe the trouble she’s been in. She grew up traveling, daughter of a diplomat, and sees herself as multicultural.

Linda Simone’s poems have appeared in Midnight Mind, Westview, Potomac Review, Essential Love: Poems about  mothers and fathers, daughters and sons and other journals and anthologies.  She served as poetry editor and managing editor for Inkwell, the literary journal of Manhattanville College

Frank Sisco writes in various genres on a wide variety of topics.  His poetry often deals with profound issues facing individuals in today's world.  One example is a creative person's continual struggle to balance creative efforts with the need to work and provide for a family.  Another example is the challenge of making relationships, especially with family members, as enriching as possible.  Frank writes songs, with lyrics and music, of various styles including rock, pop, hip hop, and easy listening, often in the first person, recounting actual experiences.  He also writes prose including an upcoming nonfiction book called "Dollars from Heaven - How to Put More God and More Money Into Your Life."  Frank is a personal financial advisor to individuals and small businesses helping clients to shape and attain goals dealing with life and money issues. (from en(compasse) book)

Patricia Smith is four-time national individual champion of the poetry slam.  In 1997, she tied with Jimmy Santiago Baca for the Taos Poetry Circus World Heavyweight Championship of Poetry.  She is the author of three volumes of poetry—Close to Death, Big Towns, Big Talk  and Life According to Motown.  Smith’s poems have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies.  She has won the prestigious Carl Sandburg Award, a literary award from the Illinois Arts Council and an honorary degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  She is currently at work on two new poetry books, Cracked Love and Teahouse of the Almighty.

Estelle Sudderth loves reading other people's poetry aloud to audiences. She is an active reader with The Poetry Caravan. She feels poems tell stories of adventure, lifestyles, love, sorrow, patriotism, war, religion, and all aspects of life.

Charlotte Walsh is a former dancer, choreographer and dance educator.  Poetry has always been an important part of her life.  She has completed two collections, Echoes and Imprints and Poems from My Tree House.  She has taught poetry workshops for children and was awarded first prize in the 2002 Greenburgh Poetry Contest and third prize in 2003.

Drew Zeyer, a 7th grader at Ardsley Middle School, won his first poetry award while in 2nd grade. He had his first poem published in 4th grade and this year, in addition to winning 1st prize for his division in the Greenburgh Poetry Contest, Drew ‘s poem, “Sweet Dreams,” is featured in his school literary magazine and another of his poem’s, “Poetry’s Place,” is soon to be published. In addition to writing traditional poetry, Drew enjoys writing and “spitting” slam poetry. Drew also loves playing football and traveling to foreign countries, most recently Argentina. Currently, he is also exploring prose writing. (Source - 5/31/05 email)