Pat Schneider, founder of Amherst Writers and Artists, was midwife to thousands of writers over the course of her life. Susan’s profile and tribute to one of her writer heroes appeared in the March/April issue of the online magazine Literary Mama. Here is an excerpt:
As Schneider perfected her workshop techniques, she grew in her belief that telling the truth in one’s writing was a political act and that to remain silent was also a political act. She began to write more about her own experiences of poverty, and she started a writing workshop with a group of women from the Chicopee Housing Project in western Massachusetts. Here, Schneider practiced the same workshop techniques with women whose voices had been silenced due to poverty, racism, incarceration, and other factors.
You can read the full profile here.