Rita Spalding-Harpring
Women's Writing Groups 101
10:30 a.m.
Session 2
A panel from Women Who Write, a Louisville group of women writers with diverse backgrounds who are dedicated to fostering excellence in literary creation and encouraging women and girls of all ages to use writing as a creative force in their lives.
Rita Spalding-Harpring’s first literary audience was a nesting mockingbird in the yard of her rural home. An imaginative child, she tied her writings to tree branches. Mysteriously the writings disappeared as the songbird returned notes of encouragement. Her first book, Abstract Ribbons is a collection of poems written from eight years old to forty. Her work appears in eight Women Who Write anthologies. In 1995 she received a special recognition award from Jefferson Community College for her ethereal poem For Lisa. A collection of her poetry was exhibited at the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library. Rita has been a member of Women Who Write since 1995 and currently serves as Director of the group. Rita has also served as panelist for the Dorothy Norton Clay Fellowships at the Mary Anderson Center. Her poem Winter 1944 was published in the national magazine, EX-POW Bulletin, Volume 64 Number 11/12 November/ December 2007. She is currently writing about her father’s experiences as a WWII Prisoner of War.
Publications:
Abstract Ribbons, Rita S. Spalding, Butler Publishing
Rita S. Spalding, contributing writer:
Women Who Write, Volume V, 1998
Women Who Write, Volume VII, 2001
Women Who Write, Volume VIII, 2002
Women Who Write, Volume IX, 2003
Calliope, 10th Anniversary Anthology of Women Who Write, Volume X, 2004
Calliope, 11th Annual Anthology of Women Who Write, Volume XI, 2005
Calliope, 12th Annual Anthology of Women Who Write, Volume XII, 2006
Calliope, 13th Annual Anthology of Women Who Write, Volume XIII, 2007
EX-POW Bulletin, Volume 64 Number 11/12 November/ December 2007, Winter 1944