Visiting Writers Lecture Series

Madeline DeFrees has published two chapbooks and eight full-length poetry collections, including Spectral Waves (Copper Canyon, 2006) and Blue Dusk (Copper Canyon, 2001), which was awarded the 2002 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. DeFrees spent 38 years as a nun with the Catholic Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. She entered the community after high school and later requested release because, in her words, “religious life and poetry both demand an absolute commitment.” As Sister Mary Gilbert, Ms. DeFrees earned a BA in English from Marylhurst College (1948) and an MA in Journalism from the University of Oregon (1951). She studied poetry briefly with Karl Shapiro, Robert Fitzgerald, and John Berryman. She taught at Holy Names College, the University of Montana, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Since she retired in 1985, she’s held residencies at Bucknell University, Eastern Washington University, and Wichita State University. Madeline DeFrees has received