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Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill, PhD., FRSA, is a wife, mother and poet, as well as a professor in the Department of English Literature and Language at St. Mary's University, for which she also serves as the graduate program director. A recipient of numerous teaching and service awards, she is the author of three previous books and a range of scholarly and feature articles. Locally, nationally, and internationally, she has presented research on language, power, and peace and has facilitated retreats and workshops on story, service, and forgiveness. Her course repertoire includes Narrative Theory, featuring an evening of student storytelling, and Writing to Change the World, featuring student outreach on contemporary issues. She has studied in Great Britain, Israel, and Jordan, and has led study abroad trips to London and Northern Ireland. She is the recipient of a United States Institute of Peace grant, the Edward and Linda Speed Peace and Justice Fellowship and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). She and her family live in San Antonio, Texas, in the company of the deer, foxes, red tail hawks, caracaras, and Texas barn owls, with whom they share a patch of Earth. Andrea Leigh Ptak's philosophy: The words-the message-matter. The visuals-the typography, layout, images, and colors-all work together to enhance the message. From 1974-81, she worked for a variety of firms in the communications industry, including a local newspaper, three advertising agencies, a corporate in-house agency, and a large commercial printing company. This experience gave her the skills to strike out on her own in 1981, when she opened a six-person, full-service design and photography studio in San Antonio. In 1993, with her industry fully revolutionized by the computer, she moved to Seattle and downsized to a home office. This technical background and 40+ years of experience give her the perfect blend of old-school knowledge and digital technology to ensure that her work meets a high level of quality. As a designer, Ptak excels at text-intensive projects like books. Her typography is top-notch as she gives a great deal of attention to details like kerning and text flow. You'll find no widows, orphans, rivers, or strings of multiple hyphens in her work.
Mary Lynne Hill has written a book like no other. Her Horizons of Joy: Poetic -Thresholds for Winter far exceeds the promise of its title, as this work takes readers on a spiritual pilgrimage encompassing everything from Beowulf and wintercearig (winter sorrow) to the Beatles and Santana. In this inventive blend of poetry, -meditation, prompts, history, and formidable linguistic scholarship, Hill invites us to revisit and perhaps revise cherished but worn assumptions about not just winter itself but the season's multitude of connotations and trappings. Ultimately, she performs verbal magic, transforming seemingly commonplace words, like stillness or snow, into numinous forces capable of changing lives, and for the better. What a gift! -Carol Coffee Reposa, 2018 Texas Poet Laureate, Fulbright Scholar, and Texas Institute of Letters. Horizons of Joy is much more than a book of poetry, a collection of essays, or a series of meditations. The pages herein take the reader on a scholarly and meditatively poetic journey. Thoroughly well-researched, each poem and meditation lead one to deeper -understanding of the winters we each go through. Hill starts with the simplest of words-Bright, Day, Night-before reaching more profound meditative depths--Merriment, Ornament, Twinkle. Come for the poems, stay for the mediation, learn some etymology along the way. Most importantly, as you stand patiently at each threshold, allow Hill to be your guide in a meaningful and introspective contemplation. -Eddie Vega, poet, spoken word artist, educator, San Antonio -Tricentennial Poet. When winter arrives in the part of the world where I reside, I often feel an eagerness to embrace the holy darkness and her companions: quiet and stillness. With Horizons of Joy: Poetic Thresholds for Winter, I now have a guidebook for reflection. This finely crafted work of creative nonfiction is both contemplative and studious, engaging both the heart and mind. Each offering illumines ordinary-and frequently overlooked-parts of the human experience: horizon, ember, calm, listen, hearth, holly, ornament. This beautiful book both will fascinate those who are curious about etymology and inspire those who are seeking prompts for reflection. This book will be a gift to many! -Julia Walsh, FSPA, educator, retreat director, author, and host of the Messy Jesus Business podcast and blog.
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