Hi I’m Mary Ellen Sullivan and I am excited to set up my first Word Press blog. Hope you’ll enjoy traveling with me as I figure this out.
I’ve been writing poetry since I was a pip-squeak. I write a lot about growing up on my childhood farm, food and farming issues, and just about everything. Lately I’ve been writing more prose and a couple of articles. I plan to share them to you in later posts.
I’ll be telling you about a little poetry project I started called Open Heart Farming. For the past 5 years I’ve put together an annual issue of Open Heart Farming poetry. The poems are by Nova Scotian poets on the themes of food and farming. And fun! Visit the issues and explore Open Heart Farming at https://ohforgery.com/open-heart-farming/.
I’ve also independently published a collection of my poems, My Farm Whispers, designed by my daughter Evelyn Stewart.
Now to get a little serious, here’s a more formal literary bio:
Mary Ellen Sullivan grew up on a farm outside Guelph, Ontario and now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Much of her writing is inspired by her love for her childhood farm. Her poetry and prose has been published in the Ecology Action Centre’s newsletter Ecology and Action, Understorey Magazine, Rural Delivery Magazine, Rhubarb, the anthology In the Company of Animals: Stories of Extraordinary Encounters, Canadian Jesuits International Mission News and a poetry chapbook, My Farm Whispers. She won the 2012 Elora Writers Festival for poetry and the 2014 Atlantic Writers Competition for poetry.
Mary Ellen is the proud poetry harvester for Open Heart Farming Poetry, an annual collection of farm and food-centric poems by Nova Scotia poets, and writes the Open Heart Farming blog. http://maryellensullivanblog.tumblr.com.
My short story, “Raising Nellie”, was published in In the Company of Animals.
Looking forward to chatting with you.
