biographical statement

Janet Ruth Heller, Ph.D., is the past president of the Michigan College English Association and the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. She has a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. She has taught literature, women's studies, composition, and creative writing at Michigan State University, Northern Illinois University, Nazareth College, Western Michigan University, Albion College, Grand Valley State University, Olivet College, and the University of Chicago. She has published seven books for children and for adults. Her website is https://www.janetruthheller.com She has published four books of poetry: Nature’s Olympics (Wipf and Stock, 2021), Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012), and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011).  She is a founding mother and former editor of Primavera, an award-winning literary magazine. The University of Missouri Press published her scholarly book, Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (1990). Her essay “A Visit to Isle Royale” was aired over Michigan Public Radio (1999). Her creative nonfiction “Returning to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin” appeared in Midwestern…