Fran Quinn has a bachelor’s degree from Assumption College and an ABD from U. Mass, Amherst. He taught literature in high schools and in colleges in New England for many years. His interest was always in finding innovative ways to teach poetry to students at various levels—ways to allow the students to discover and learn, and bring them inside poems, not keep them outside, without emotional engagement.

Most important to this teaching is that he is a poet himself; he published three volumes of poetry, Milk of the Lioness (1982), The Goblet Crying for Wine (1995), and A Horse of Blue Ink (2005), and has placed poems in various journals. Says Donald Hall, “No one has worked so hard for poetry as Fran Quinn. No one has benefitted more poets, with his diligence, his warm heart, and his inventiveness.”

One of the founders of the Worcester County Poetry Association in 1971, he organized Robert Bly’s Mother Conference for years. He now conducts regular poetry workshops in Indianapolis, Chicago, New York City, and elsewhere. Visit his website at franquinnworkshops.com.