Madeline DeFrees is the author of six poetry collections, a memoir, The Springs of Silence, and many reviews and essays. For nearly thirty years she was a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and she published her first collection in 1964 under the name of Sister Mary Gilbert. DeFrees has taught at numerous universities, including the University of Massachusetts, where she directed the graduate writing program. She now lives in Seattle and writes full-time.
