Janet MacFadyen `71 has had a variety of day jobs over the years including woodworker and piano tuner, but she has always loved to write. In 1993 she completed her MFA and has been writing ever since then. Her newest book, Waiting to be Born, was published in September 2017 by Dos Madres Press. It is a collection of what she dubbed American ghazals, a Middle Eastern poetic form characterized by intuitive leaps between stanzas and a dialog between the speaker and some kind of beloved. Janet’s inspiration for her work comes from the landscape, environmental issues, and human relations and behavior. A thread of spirituality is woven into everything she writes.

Janet is Managing Editor of a poetry collaborative called Slate Roof Press. She and 5 other poets belong to this member-run press that was established in 2004. The collaborative focuses on publishing Massachusetts and regional poets. They publish limited edition, artfully hand-crafted chapbooks designed by the poets and printed by another member (and master printer) of Slate Roof Press.

She remembers how painfully shy she was during her high school years. The most important thing Buxton taught her was how to speak in front of people. The process of writing and reading her graduation speech, aloud, to a large group of people gave her the confidence to speak in public. She was very glad to hear that tradition continues at Buxton. Traditions sometimes get a bad rap. For Janet, this one is worth keeping.

To read an excerpt from Waiting to be Born, see https://www.dosmadres.com/shop/waiting-to-be-born-by-janet-macfadyen/, and to check out Slate Roof Press, go to http://www.slateroofpress.com/.