Barbara Marie Minney is a transgender woman, award-winning poet, writer, speaker, and quiet activist. She is a retired attorney and a seventh generation Appalachian. She writes personal and emotional poetry that describes her feelings, thoughts, and passions while struggling to live her truth as a transgender woman. She began her transition to living authentically as the woman that she now knows she was meant to be at the age of 63 after repressing her true gender identity for over 60 years. Barbara’s poetry and essays have been published or are forthcoming in the "50th Anniversary Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology," "Women Speak: Volumes 5, 6, 7, and 8: Women of Appalachia Project," "The Gasconade Review Presents: Ladies' Night," "Woman Scream: The International Poetry Anthology of Female Voices," "Voices of Real 4, 5, and 7,” “For A Better World 2020 and 2022: Poems and Drawings on Peace and Justice,” “Wicked Gay Ways Summer 2020 Issue, Winter 2020 Issue,  and Fall/Winter 2021 Issue,” “Pluviophile: Digital Mental Health Anthology," "Breaking the Silence: An Anthology of Queer Self, Life, and Love in NE Ohio," “Inside Out: An Affirming Epiphany,” In Our Shoes: An LGBTQ+ Anthology,” “Cooch Behar Magazine World Poetry Anthology,” “Gargoyle Magazine #74,” “I Thought I Heard A Cardinal Sing, Ohio’s Appalachian Voices,” “Christian Poetry Compilation Book,” “A Poem Demic,” “Love Poems Anthology,” “Birds of the Cuyahoga: 2022 Edith Chase Poetry Reading,” “The Pine Cone Review: Glissade, Special Issue on Dance,” "Trash Sandwich Magazine Issue 10,”“LGBTQIA Anthology-Of Rust and Glass Pride,”  “Politico,” and “The Buckeye Flame.” Barbara also wrote the introduction to the 2021 Akron Pride Festival Guide, and one of her poems was included in the 2022 Akron Pride Festival Guide. Barbara’s first collection of poetry, If There’s No Heaven, was the winner of the 2020 Poetry Is Life Book Award and was published in May of 2020 by Poetry Is Life Publishing. It was selected by the Akron Beacon Journal as a Best Northeast Ohio Book in 2020. She is also the author of the Poetic Memoir Chapbook Challenge and the forthcoming Dance Naked With God. Barbara has also appeared on the West Virginia Author TV program, the Transpositive radio program, and several podcasts. Barbara’s poetry has also been translated into Spanish and published in Spanish-language magazines. Barbara lives in Tallmadge, Ohio, with her wife of over 41 years and a menagerie of stuffed animals. You can follow Barbara at https://www.barbaramarieminneypoetry.com.

Website: https://www.barbaramarieminneypoetry.com

Publications

• If There's No Heaven , Poetry Is Life Publishing (May 22, 2020)
• Poetic Memoir Chapbook Challenge , Local Gem Poetry Press (July 10, 2021)

Awards

• 2020 Poetry Is Life Book Award(2019)

Employment

• Assistant Prosecuting Attorney at Muskingum County Ohio Prosecutor's Office (June 1978 - March 1981)
• Attorney/Partner at Whalen & Compton (March 1981 - March 2001)
• Partner at Pepple & Waggonner (March 2001 - July 2014)

Degrees

• Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & English from Ohio Northern Univeristy (May 1975)
• Doctoral Degree in Law from Univerity of Dayton School of Law (May 1978)

Genres of Interest

Fiction, Creative nonfiction, Poetry