"LOVE AND LOSS AND WIDE-EYED WONDER. ANN MCGOVERN SEES SO MUCH AND SPEAKS VOLUMES." -- Jules Feiffer, cartoonist, novelist, playwright, writer and illustrator of numerous children's books.

Ann has embraced poetry after 45 years as a prize-winning author of more than 55 books for children, included the now classic Stone Soup and Too Much Noise. Her books in print number 25 million copies.

A tireless traveler who has visited every continent, McGovern is always refueling ideas of place and purpose into her poems. And as a scuba diver, she writes about the underwater world of coral reefs from the Caribbean to China.

Her 70 poems have appeared in more than 50 journals, including Confrontation, Georgetown Review, Nimrod, Rosebud and Fulcrum. Her poems have been printed in many anthologies and have won numerous prizes. She has been featured in many poetry readings at libraries, The National Arts Club, and coffeehouses in the USA and abroad.

She says, "It's a challenging, heady experience to weave reflections, insights, sensations, thoughts and feelings into the many-faceted fabric of a poem."

Poet Tony Hoagland says: "Her poems are witty, wry, punchy, sexual and tough-minded.  She has a fine-tuned sense of the strange poetry of this life, its poignant, catastrophic and ribald comedy, and she makes tight, dark, fun poems out of it."

McGovern grew up in New York City where she lives today. Her interest in books and writing began at an early age. "As a child, I developed a terrible stutter and never raised my hand in class," she says, "I became a writer and poet to express the feelings that I couldn't speak about and I became an avid reader as a way to escape a sad home life. I practically lived in my local library." These days, McGovern performs poetry readings without a trace of a stutter and she is a popular key-note speaker at educational conferences.

Ann is a passionate promoter of literacy around the world. The Ann McGovern Reading Room at the New York Public Library's Muhlenberg Library provides an important resource for the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. She is on the Board of Goddard-Riverside Community Center and a strong supporter of peace and justice around the world. She was awarded the 2002 Laura Parsons Pratt Award for her efforts to improve the status of women and children. Her poetry workshop conducted for inmates of Bedford Hills prison resulted in the publication of Voices From Within.

Ann has four children and three grandchildren scattered around the world. She also has three grandcats and a granddog.
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