Sherry Weaver Smith writes poems inspired by walking through grasslands of the American West, revisiting memories of Asian travels, and talking with her eight-year-old daughter, Laura. Her poems have been published in the Arizona Literary Magazine, To Topos: Poetry International, California Quarterly, The Heron's Nest, and the Seventh Quarry (U.K.), and one of her poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2008. She is one of the American voices that responded to the paintings of Vietnamese children in the Speak Peace exhibit, a mixture of art and poems, which has been showcased at various universities in the United States, England, and ultimately in Vietnam.

Sherry is Grants Manager for Science Buddies, an educational nonprofit. Previously, she worked in product management for a healthcare software company. Earlier in her career, she worked for a foundation assisting street children in Manila, the Philippines, and for an English language school in Japan—experiences that still inspire her poetry today. She has an M.Phil. in Politics from the University of Oxford in England and a B.A. from Duke University. She was born in the quaint, university town of Athens, Ohio, but she grew up in Northern Virginia, where her father, Kelly Weaver, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and her mother, Cheryl Weaver, taught third grade.

Sherry's current favorite hobby is bird watching, including reacting to Rare Bird Alerts and convincing her family to try to find birds that most often have long since flown away to escape the interested crowds. She also enjoys traveling and finding "hidden" points of interest, such as a ruined village only visible from the top of a hill or petroglyphs found down a dirt road. Snowshoeing, attempting to write fiction for children, and hiking round out Sherry's hobbies that she enjoys with her daughter, Laura, and husband, Michael.

Sherry Weaver Smith, Curriculum Vitae

Education

M.Phil. in Politics, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

A.B. in East Asian Studies and Mathematics (double majors), Duke University, NC, with a year abroad at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London

Poetry-Related and Writing Work Experience

Freelance Poetry Instructor, contract position, 9/2009-present, City of San Ramon, California
• Have created my own curriculum for an after-school class, "Poetry Around the World," that inspires children to write poems and builds their cultural awareness
• Designed a market research survey and wrote a successful proposal to launch the class
• After receiving foundation funding, conducted two workshops, along with another local poet, at the library of the City of Pleasanton, CA

Copy Editor, contract position, 3/2011-present, Science Buddies, an educational nonprofit, Carmel, CA
• Edit science project resources written for students in grades K-12

Tutor, middle-school and high-school students in poetry and math, 1/2009-present
• Select and edit poems for a high-school student who has placed in multiple poetry competitions, including at the state level

Freelance Writer & Researcher, contract position, 4/2007-4/2008, Science Buddies, an educational nonprofit, Carmel, CA
• Served as lead author and edited teacher contributions for "Four Tools for Science Fair Success," published in Science and Children (12/07), a journal that reached more than 20,000 teachers
• Leveraged teacher interviews and best-practice research to write comprehensive online guides to planning science fairs

Corporate and Nonprofit Experience, various
• Previously worked for ten years in product management, nonprofit management, and writing positions for various corporations and nonprofits

Published Poetry

Haiku and Haibun
California Quarterly, Fall 2009: "Chain Link Fence" (an experimental haiku series)
Haibun Today, March 2010: "Chambered Nautilus"
The Heron's Nest, March 2008: cemetery garden
Mainichi Daily News, Fall 2008: wildflowers
Mariposa, Fall 2009: rosary beads
Mariposa, Spring 2009: snowy dusk
ukiaHaiku Festival Winners Booklet 2009: blue leaves
ukiaHaiku Festival Winners Booklet 2008: May morning, tin houses
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2009 Haiku Winners: sidewalk blossoms
World Haiku Review, Winter 2010: comet tail
World Haiku Review, Summer 2010: morning fog and forest path

Free Verse
Arizona Literary Magazine, 2008: "Daily Breath: Hospital, the Philippines, 1995"
California Quarterly, Fall 2008: "Crossing Grassland"
Gathering, Ina Coolbrith Circle Anthology, Vol. 10: "Above a Parking Lot"
Gathering, Ina Coolbrith Circle Anthology, Vol. 9: "Prospecting in the River's Valley"
High Plains Register, 2008: "Failing to Document You"
High Plains Register, 2007: "Shades of a Landscape"
In Our Own Words, 2008: "Salvage"
Miller's Pond Poetry Magazine (web ed.), Winter 2009: "An Absence of Landmarks", "Forest Children"
Monterey Poetry Review, Winter 2006: "Embarcadero"
Las Positas Anthology, 2006 "Mother's Day in a Sutter Creek Churchyard"
Las Positas Anthology, 2008: "Homage, Panmunjon, South Korea"
Las Positas Anthology, 2007: "How the Wind Found Its Story", "Floating Palmettos"
The Seventh Quarry, January 2010: "Imprint"
To Topos: Poetry International: Poverty and Poetry, Fall 2008 "Fairy Tale of Manila"
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, Vol. 29, No. 2: "Four Blackbirds"

Poetry Awards (Select List)

Pushcart Prize Nominee, 2008
First Prize, Poetry, Arizona Authors Association, 2008
Third Prize, the Dancing Poetry Festival, 2008
First Place, Las Positas Anthology Annual Poetry Contest, 2008
Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational, 2009
First Place, Experimental Poem, California State Poetry Society, October 2009
Third Place, "Modern" category, ukiaHaiku Festival, 2009
Charlene Villella Award for Poetry, Pleasanton Poetry, Prose and Arts Festival, 2010
Second Place, Short Poem, Pleasanton, Poetry, Prose and Arts Festival, 2011
Charlene Villella Award for Poetry, Pleasanton Poetry, Prose and Arts Festival, 2007

Poetry Readings and Exhibitions (Select List)

Speak Peace International Exhibit, organized by Kent State University: my poem, "Wind Stream," an ekphrastic work, is being exhibited with a painting from Vietnam
National Poetry Month Reading, San Ramon Library, 4/09
Holiday Poetry Reading, Museum on Main, Pleasanton, 12/08
Dancing Poetry Festival, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 10/08

More information about Sherry Weaver Smith can be found on her website here.