Gloria Heffernan's Exploring Poetry of Presence (Back Porch Productions) won the 2021 CNY Book Award for Nonfiction. She also received the 2022 Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize. Heffernan is the author of the collections Peregrinatio: Poems for Antarctica (Kelsay Books) and What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, (New York Quarterly Books). Her chapbook Animal Grace was selected for the Keystone Chapbook Series. Her work has appeared in over one hundred publications, including Poetry of Presence II (Grayson Books). Heffernan turned her attention to poetry on a full-time basis after a thirty-year career in higher education administration at numerous institutions, including New York University, Pace University, and Le Moyne College. Her focus was community service, service learning, and community engagement. Currently, she teaches poetry at Syracuse YMCA's Downtown Writers Center. For more information: www.gloriaheffernan.wordpress.com