About Patricia McMillen

A student of poets Barry Silesky, Luis Alberto Urrea and the late Maureen Seaton, among others, Patricia (Patty/she/her) is a retired lawyer, folk musician and community activist. Born and raised in Illinois, she briefly practiced commercial law with Chicago-based firm Mayer Brown, throwing that over in 1992 for the practices of farm management, old-time (clawhammer) banjo, and freelance public advocacy. Patricia is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Chicago) Program for Writers (MA 2005); the University of Chicago Law School (JD 1983); Brown University (BA 1973-4) and Dana Hall School (1970). Her first full-length poetry collection, Running Wild, was published in March 2024 by Finishing Line Press; her chapbook Knife Lake Anthology (Pudding House Press, Cincinnati OH 2006), treating the social ramifications of capital punishment, is out of print. Patty is listed in the Poets & Writers directory (https://www.pw.org/directory) and gratefully acknowledges the support of an Illinois Arts Council fellowship (2006) and residencies at Ragdale Foundation (IL) and Mary Anderson Center for the Arts (IN).

Awards & Honors

Peter K. Hixson Memorial Award (Writer's Relief 2011); Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry (2002); Ragdale Foundation poetry residencies (1999, 2004, 2006, 2007); Jo-Anne Hirschfield Memorial Poetry Awards  (1997, 2000, 2004)

Poetry  Workshops/Conferences Attended: Squaw Valley Writers Conference, Indiana University Writers Conference (Partial scholarship), Mayapple  Press/Third Coast, Catskills Writers Workshop

Studied With

Maureen Seaton, Anne Winters, Luis Urrea, Barry Silesky, Natasha Saje, and others.