Ribbons of Light

About the Book

In this eloquent, finely structured poetry chapbook, Lois Mathieu takes us past hardship and loss into a world where redemption and joy spread brilliant ribbons of light across the landscape of life.

About the Author :
Lois Mathieu, a Connecticut native, writes poetry and fiction. She earned a B.A. in Liberal Studies from Syracuse University and an M.A. in English from Trinity College. Thereafter, she worked in the corporate world as a manager of customer documentation and made friends across the globe during many working trips to Japan.Lois Mathieu's poems have been issued by journals such as Calyx, Connecticut River Review, Connecticut Poets at Work, Embers, and Portland Review. They have also appeared in anthologies: the Texas Tech University Press anthology, Blood to Remember, American Poets on the Holocaust; and the Northwoods Press anthology, Sweet as Hautboys, Green as Prairies. Her poem "Counting Sheep by Night" won the Joseph E. Brodine Award presented by The Connecticut Poetry Society. Lois has written poetry reviews for the journal Gargoyle; and she is the author of three novels: Debut, Song for My Birth Mother; The Next to Last Drink (named to Kirkus Review's Best of 2012 list); and Women Under Siege; as well as a book of poems, Snow Raining on Glass. Lois is married to writer and theologian William L. Newell, Professor Emeritus at Eastern Connecticut State University. They live in West Hartford, CT, and have two children as well as four grandchildren. Lois Mathieu, a Connecticut native, writes poetry and fiction. She earned a B.A. in Liberal Studies from Syracuse University and an M.A. in English from Trinity College. Thereafter, she worked in the corporate world as a manager of customer documentation and made friends across the globe during many working trips to Japan.Lois Mathieu's poems have been issued by journals such as Calyx, Connecticut River Review, Connecticut Poets at Work, Embers, and Portland Review. They have also appeared in anthologies: the Texas Tech University Press anthology, Blood to Remember, American Poets on the Holocaust; and the Northwoods Press anthology, Sweet as Hautboys, Green as Prairies. Her poem "Counting Sheep by Night" won the Joseph E. Brodine Award presented by The Connecticut Poetry Society. Lois has written poetry reviews for the journal Gargoyle; and she is the author of three novels: Debut, Song for My Birth Mother; The Next to Last Drink (named to Kirkus Review's Best of 2012 list); and Women Under Siege; as well as a book of poems, Snow Raining on Glass. Lois is married to writer and theologian William L. Newell, Professor Emeritus at Eastern Connecticut State University. They live in West Hartford, CT, and have two children as well as four grandchildren.

Review :

Beginning with primal memories from grade school, a time when growing up wasn't easy, with its "cardboard / Doll house pieced together", Lois Mathieu's Ribbons of Light courageously explores what it takes to deepen in childhood and embark on brave recoveries, personal and universal. Words from her final poem show us how talons seize the light of day-summarizing the warmth and brilliance which shines from each page of this book of fast-paced and powerful free verse able to melt ice.

-D. Walsh Gilbert, author of Ransom