Description
Mary Ann Mulhern was raised in St. Thomas, Ontario. During the 1960s, Mulhern was a nun and a teacher in the convent where she experienced the strict discipline that governed the women. Eight years later, she left the convent and continued teaching. In 2001, Mulhern began writing poetry while attending a summer writing seminar at the University of Windsor. After winning the Freedom Festival Poetry Contest for her poem, “Freedom’s Rail,” she was encouraged by Marty Gervais to write about her experience in the convent. The result was her first collection of poetry, The Red Dress. Mulhern has continued writing, publishing five books of poetry between 2006 and 2016, including Touch the Dead which received a nomination for the Acorn-Plantos Award. Mulhern currently lives and writes in Windsor, Ontario.