lilyionamackenzie
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Oct 4, 2008 (17 years) |
- | 1 | 1 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Oct 4, 2008 (17 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 1
- Replies created
- 1
Bio
A high school dropout, and a mother at 17, in my early years, I supported myself as a stock girl in the Hudson’s Bay Company, as a long distance operator for the former Alberta Government Telephones, and as a secretary (Bechtel Corp sponsored me into the States). I also was a cocktail waitress at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco; briefly broke into the male-dominated world of the docks as a longshoreman (I was the first woman to work on the SF docks and almost got my legs broken); founded and managed a homeless shelter in Marin County; co-created The Story Shoppe, a weekly radio program for children that aired on KTIM in Marin; and eventually earned two Master’s degrees (one in Creative writing and one in the Humanities).
I have published reviews, interviews, short fiction, poetry, travel pieces, essays, and memoir in over 165 American and Canadian venues. Fling!, one of my novels, was published in July 2015 by Pen-L Publishing. Curva Peligrosa, another novel, was published in September 2017. Freefall: A Divine Comedy was released in 2019. The Ripening: A Canadian Girl Grows Up, featuring the same main character as in Freefall, came out on October 25, 2021. My poetry collection All This was published in 2011. My poetry chapbook NO MORE KINGS was released in the spring of 2020. In 2023, Shanti Arts Press will release my hybrid memoir DREAMING MYSELF INTO OLD AGE: ONE WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING and my latest poetry collection CALIFORNIA DREAMING. I also taught writing at the University of San Francisco (USF) for over 30 years and was vice-president of USF's part-time faculty union. I currently teach creative writing at USF's Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning. I also blog at lilyionamackenzie.com.