Mary Ellen Branan is winner of Peace Corps Writers Poetry Award

Mary Ellen Branan (Poland 1994–96) is the winner of the Peace Corps Writers Poetry Award for her collection, Weavings published in 2010 by First World Publishing.

Dr. Branan lives in Bastrop, Texas, a small river town not far from Austin.  She plied a social worker career in Houston and Austin for 20 years, then returned to the graduate Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston, finishing in 1991.  As a PCV she was on the faculty of a English-teacher-training college in Pulawy, Poland, a cultural experience and a landscape that inspired a number of poems included those in Weavings.

According to Karla K. Morton, Texas Poet Laureate in  2010: ” Poet Mary Branan’s work chronicles life, death, family, and even Poland, with a warmth and sophistication that only time and artistic sensitivity can bring.”

Congratulations, Mary Ellen!

Mary Ellen receives a special citation and a cash award from Peace Corps Writers – a blog of Peace Corps Worldwide. Our congratulations to all the winners, and all the RPCVs who published books in 2010.