Ann Bracken is an activist with a pen. Her four books of poetry take on the topical issues of family secrets like depression and alcohol abuse, the challenges of teaching, the stories of the men and women hidden away in our nation’s prisons, and the joys and regrets that go with aging.  Her memoir, Crash: A Memoir of Overmedication and Recovery, explores mother-daughter experiences of mismanaged care for depression and chronic pain, and tells the multi-generational story using primary source records, journal entries, and current medical research.  

Ann served for fifteen years as a contributing editor for Little Patuxent Review, and co-facilitated the Wilde Readings Poetry Series in Columbia, Maryland for ten years.  She also volunteers as a correspondent exchanging letters with incarcerated people to foster their use of the arts.  Her poetry, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including Bluebird Word, Scribble, Mad in America, Fledgling Rag, and Gargoyle. Ann believes in the power of the arts to effect change in areas such as emotional wellness, education, and prison abolition. Her use of poetic language has garnered her two Pushcart nominations, a featured spot on Best American Poetry, and appearances on Grace Cavalieri’s Poet and the Poem radio series.

Ann’s interviews for Little Patuxent Reviewinclude such notables as Grace Cavalieri, host of “The Poet and the Poem” and former Poet Laureate of Maryland; Paul Rucker, visual artist and cellist; Jason Reynolds, award-winning Young Adult author; Betty May, prison activist and author; and Morna McDermott, university professor and social justice activist.

Educated at Towson University( BA in Speech Pathology and Audiology) and Johns Hopkins University(M.S.Ed. in Communication and Learning Disorders ), Bracken’s work as a teacher in public and private schools, community colleges, and the University of Maryland College Park during the past forty years has focused on giving women, students of all ages, and imprisoned people a voice. Her post-graduate work in drama in education from Dublin’s Trinity College, journal instruction training from The Center for Journal Therapyand poetry therapy training from The National Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy all weave their way into her writings and inform the way she views the world of learning. As a lifelong educator and reader, as well as writer, Ann holds fast to the vision that education at all levels is a precious human endeavor.

Ann has two grown children and lives in Columbia, MD.

Watch Ann read her poetry–Youtube videos