About

Ellen Woods writes poetry and memoir and is the author of two books, The Watchful Heart Recedes (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and Warriors in Transition: A Memoir in Twenty-Eight Stories (Word Project Press, 2014) .Her work appears in literary magazines and anthologies. She is on the prose staff of The MacGuffin magazine.

She grew up in Indiana and came to California in the sixties to complete her BA at UC Berkeley. She was captivated by the Civil Rights Movement and after graduation devoted herself to paralegal work. She later received an MA in Psychology and worked as a psychiatric social worker for Alameda County for fifteen years. After retirement she dedicated herself to writing.

Awards/Readings: 2011 – March, Women on Writing, Skyline College, Public Reading, San Bruno, CA; June, San Mateo County Fair, Literary Stage, Public Reading, San Mateo, CA

2012 – March, Soul-Making Keats Literary Awards Reading, Humor, San Francisco, CA; July, Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, Awards Reading, Mendocino, CA

2013 – March, Soul-Making Keats Literary Awards Reading, Humor, San Francisco, CA; March, Soul-Making Keats Literary Awards Reading, Nonfiction, San Francisco, CA; June, Inquiring Mind Reading, Diesel Books, Oakland, CA

2014 – March, Soul-Making Keats Literary Awards Reading, Religious Essay, San Francisco, CA; March, Soul-Making Keats Literary Awards Reading, Creative Nonfiction, San Francisco, CA; August, Bay Area Generations, Reading, Berkeley, CA; September, Bay Area Generations, Reading, San Francisco, CA; November, Tuolumne County Arts Alliance, Book Launch, Sonora, CA; November, Oakland Center for Spiritual Living, Book Launch, Oakland, CA; December, Bay Area Generations, Reading, San Francisco, CA.

2015 – January, Bay Area Generations, Reading, San Francisco, CA; March, Bay Area Generations, Reading, San Francisco, CA

2016 – June, Bay Area Generations, Reading, Berkeley, CA.

2018 – January, Bay Area Generations, Reading, San Francisco, CA

2019 – May, selected as Judge/Sponsor for Prose Poem Category, Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition.

2021 – Marc, joined Prose staff at The MacGuffin Magazine.

Published Work: 2012 – A Green Bough in My Heart, Skive Magazine, Spring/Fall 2012 edition; Warriors in Transition, Noyo River Review, Summer 2012 edition; Pick and Pull, Looseleaf Tea, Fall 2012 edition.

2013 – Transforming, Inquiring Mind, Spring 2013; Tumbleweed, Halfway Down the Stairs, June 2013; The Green Dragon (retitled The Girls With the Flower Tattoos), The Bygone Bureau, July 2013; Intuitively Speaking, Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine, Fall 2013; Wild Turkeys Rising and Gateway, Skive Magazine, Fall 2013; Miss Pretty, Write to Woof Anthology, Grey Wolfe Publishing, Winter 2013; Ruby’s Grace and Ruby Revisited (previously titled Blood Sisters), About Place Journal, 1963-2013: A Civil Right’s Retrospective, Winter 2013.

2014 Got Your Back, Moon Magazine, May 2014; Warriors in Transition: A Memoir in Twenty-Eight Stories, October 2014.

2018 – Monterey Aquarium, In Laymen’s Terms, May 2018; Neither Here Nor There, Street Spirit, June 2018; Seeds of Doubt, Marin Poetry Center 2018 Anthology.

2019 – Taking Charge, Moon Magazine, May 2019; Agency, Beautiful Cadaver, August 2019; Places I’ve Never Been, The Benzine, November 2019; Distracted, Pudding Magazine #68, December 2019.

2020 – Eight Reasons George Floyd is Dead, Persimmon Tree Magazine, Fall 2020; Eight Reasons George Floyd is Dead, Poems of Political Protest: An Anthology, December 2020.

2021 – I’m No Damsel in Distress, Persimmon Tree Magazine, Spring 2021; The Watchful Heart Recedes, Finishing Line Press, December 2021.

2022 – Out of the Shadows, Open Ceiling Journal, Spring 2022; Spirit’s Presence, The Bezine, Spring 2022; Hungry, Persecutors, Call Me {Brackets}, Spring 2022; Scarcity in the Neighborhood, Plum Tree Tavern,Spring 2022; Lost and Found, Persimmon Tree, Summer 2022; I Think We Talked, Blood and Thunder, Fall 2022.

2024 – Gingerbread, Monterey Poetry Review, Fall 2024; Cozy Cove, Pt Richmond, California Poets 2024; Swimming in Tucson, Sunhous, Fall, 2024; Tanshi, Bamhoo Hut, Fall 2024.