Terry Ann Thaxton

Terry Ann Thaxton is a fourth generation Floridian and grew up in Sarasota in a large family, surrounded by hundreds of acres of natural Florida habitat. She studied creative writing and literature at the University of Central Florida, and then completed her MFA in Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has published poems and essays in numerous journals, including flyway, Hayden's Ferry, Connecticut Review, Cimarron Review, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Teaching Artist Journal, West Branch, and many others. She has received awards from United Arts of Central Florida, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Youth Service America. She teaches creative writing at the University of Central Florida and directs The Literary Arts Partnership at UCF, a program that offers creative writing workshops to children, youth, and adults living in shelters, foster care facilities, nursing homes, and treatment centers. She is the 2013 winner of The Missouri Review Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize for essay.