Betsy Lynch

Betsy Lynch holds a BA in literature (Binghamton University) and M.S. (SUNY Albany) with extensive additional graduate credit in literature and linguistics from SUNY Plattsburgh, McGill, Indiana University, and the former St. Michael’s College. Additional education in workshops such as Bread Loaf, Palm Beach Poetry, San Miguel de Allende Writers Festival, AWP, Florida Writers Association, recent “Kick Ass ADK Writers Festival” sponsored by the Adirondack Writing Center in Saranac Lake, numerous online and face-to-face conferences, readings, performances have fueled the creative fire.

After retiring from teaching English and ESL in New York State, she continued to teach English and ESL in overseas assignments and in Florida, retiring from the College of Central Florida in 2021. She has taught in Shanghai, China, Cusco, Peru, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and dual enrollment at several high schools.

While living on Anna Maria Island, her partner encouraged her to get her pilot’s license, and she has been flying several small planes since 2012. She has found great joy in discovering the abundance of space, a new dimension, along with the challenges, uphill learning curves, and fear. Moving inland to an airpark community in central Florida was a choice that brought further challenge and great opportunity.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Long Island, and upstate New York, she considers the Adirondacks home, where she raised her children and taught. She divides her time between the Lake Champlain Region and Florida, where she and her best friend, Ed, fly a Piper Tomahawk named “Shadowfax” whenever they can.

Her children and grandchildren all live about an hour away.

A member of the “Moving Mountains Poets” (Poets and Writers Group led by Rachel Raum) for the last few years, she’s been encouraged to assemble this collection. She has published a longer collection, Turning Base: Wind Perceptions (Mill City Press, 2018), and in numerous journals including including Eclectica, Midwest Press, Quillkeepers Press, the Aerial Perspective, Sierra, and National Council of Teachers of English (English Journal)