Holly J. Hughes

Holly J. Hughes traded in Minnesota corn fields for open waters, spending her early adult years gillnetting for salmon and running tenders in Alaska, returning later to skipper the 65-foot schooner Crusader and work as a naturalist on ships. For the last two decades, she taught interdisciplinary writing courses that focused on natural history and sustainability at a community college in Washington and was a member of the steering committee for the Curriculum for the Bioregion project through Evergreen State College. She’s the author of several books of poetry, including Sailing by Ravens (University of Alaska Press, 2014) and Passings (Expedition Press, 2016), and she co-authored The Pen and The Bell: Mindful Writing in a Busy World (Skinner House Press, 2012). She also co-edited Contemplative Approaches to Sustainability in Higher Education: Theory & Practice (Routledge, 2016). She has taught both writing and mindfulness workshops throughout the Northwest.