Jane Beal (Ph.D., University of California, Davis) is Professor of English Literature and past Chair of the English Department at the University of La Verne in California. She received her BA, MA, and PhD in English Literature; she received her Certificate in Midwifery from Mercy in Action College of Midwifery. She has taught at Wheaton College, Colorado Christian University, and the University of La Verne, as well as UC Davis, and served as a midwife in the U.S., Uganda, and the Philippines. During the world-wide coronavirus pandemic, she pursued and obtained a graduate Certificate in Narrative Medicine and an MFA in Creative Writing from Bay Path University. She regularly publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction as well as literary and cultural criticism. Her poetry collections include SANCTUARY, MADE IN THE IMAGE, MAGICAL POEMS FOR GIRLS, MAGICAL POEMS (ILLUSTRATED), TIDEPOOLS, LOVE SONG, BUTTERFLIES, EPIPHANY, A PURE HEART, SUNFLOWER SONGS, THE ROOTS OF APPLES, RISING, TRANSFIGURATION, UNCAGED, PRAISE AND LAMENT: PSALMS, HAIKU BIRDING, and SONG OF THE SELKIE as well as her Birdwatcher Trilogies, THE BIRDWATCHER'S DIARY ENTRIES, WILD BIRDSONG, and JAZZ BIRDING and SPIRITUAL AVIARY FOR THE YEAR, Vol. 1, 2, and 3, and seven haiku micro-chaps, Journey, Garden, Bliss, Wide Awake and Dreaming, In the Santa Cruz Mountains, Songs of Water, and Wilderness; and three audio recording projects combining poetry and music. To learn more, visit https://janebeal.wordpress.com