I am a poet, novelist, short story writer, and children's book author.My most recent poetry collections are a pair of memoirs-in-verse, I CARRY MY MOTHER and I WISH MY FATHER. I have also written a novel-in-verse called OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD. My most well-known book is the children's classic, HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. From 2008 - 2010 I served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA and currently I am a faculty member of Spalding University's School of Creative and Professional Writing.. Literary awards include poetry fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Book Award, two National Jewish Book Awards, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award.