Wild Women with Tender Hearts:  Winner of the National Peace Corps Writers Award for Poetry. 

"Patricia Taylor Edmisten, passionate woman with a fierce and tender heart, writes of family, pain, hope, nature and commitment to social justice.  Her work is a strong voice speaking to the human condition."  Jennifer Soule, Ph.D., Poet and Professor Emerita, Shepherd University.

"Patricia Taylor Edmisten's poems for tender-hearted wild women will surely also please nature lovers and strong men.  Covering a range of subjects, from careless littering in 'Aluminum Beach,' to the Persian Gulf War in Middle East, 1991, the poems confront the micro and macro issues of the day....The numerous personal poems...evoking painful and pleasurable relationships...charmingly reveal the poet's nostalgic sensibilities."  Mary Lowe-Evans, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, English Department, University of West Florida.

"Her poetry is alive, velvet rich, deep, and just blows my socks off."  Nancy Gilliam, Legal and Independent Scholar.

"I thought I knew something about women, but Patricia Edmisten takes me into fresh, unmapped territory.  She holds a magnifying glass up to her own intimate perceptions and doubt, allowing them to surface in vital images through small, rich verses which are no stranger to wit and surprise."  Jack Beach, Poet.

"Patricia Taylor Edmisten has done what poets are supposed to.  She has courageously exposed her personal views of people and nature while crafting elegant language art....  In evoking her intense reverence for even the commonest natural objects, she compels the reader to attend these miracles as well."  Ron Evans, Ph.D. Poet and Professor Emeritus of English, University of West Florida.

 

The Mourning of Angels (novel) 

 

Young, Jesuit-educated Lydia Schaefer is one of the first from Milwaukee to become a Peace Corps volunteer.  The poverty, political violence and machismo she encounters in Peru force her to question her belief system.  It is Rafael Serrano, a mixed-race medical doctor, and his mother Teresa, a wise woman and midwife, who teach Lydia at the indomitable spirit of the Andean people.  In the mountains of Peru, Lydia endures blows that test her courage and will to live.  Although she gains wisdom, she sacrifices much before returning home. 

"In straight forward, beautifully descriptive prose, subtly impregnated with the political cultural history of Peru, Edmisten charts Lydia Schaefer's journey from innocence...to a stark, tragic maturity....She also shows the wonderful gutsiness and tenacity of those early Peace Corps volunteers who plunged gamely into uncharted waters...an admirable book and one that superbly fulfills the third goal of the Peace Corps, 'to bring the world home.'" Marnie Mueller, winner of the American Book Award.

 

The Treasures of Pensacola Beach (poetry with photos by the author)  

"Yes, Patricia is my wife, and I admit to bias, but she is one good writer.  In this little, accessible book of poems, anecdotes, stories and photos, she weaves together the colors, moods, seasons and natural history of the Emerald Coast.  Joe A. Edmisten, Ph.D., Ecological Consultant

 

The Autobiography of Maria Elena Moyano The Life and Death of a Peruvian Activist (Diana Miloslavich Tupac, editor.  Prologue, afterword and translation by Patricia Taylor Edmisten, non-fiction)

 

Using Maria Elena Moyano's own words, the editor of this poignant story has re-created the voice of the martyred Peruvian activist.  In 1992, at age 33, Moyano was assassinated by guerrillas of the revolutionary movement Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path).  Her murder--a warning to others in the women's movement--galvanized the Peruvian people against Sendero Luminoso and its leader, Abimael Guzman Reynosa.

 

As a woman of color, Moyano led a revolution of conscience within a larger revolution.  Through this gracefully translated book, her voice continues to speak for all women who refuse to relinquish the struggle for dignity, freedom and equal political participation.

 

Nicaragua Divided: La Prensa and the Chamorro Legacy (non-fiction)

 

Using the Chamorro family of publishers/writers, Edmisten traces the origins of the Nicaraguan revolution.  Pedro Chamorro's 1978 assassination triggered the 1978 rebellion in which 30,000 Nicaraguans died.  After the patriarch's murder, his family carried on the fight for social justice.  They did, however, choose different paths toward the same goal.  Two children were Sandinistas; two were Contras.  Chamorro's brothers were likewise divided.  In 1990, Pedro Chamorro's widow, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, was elected president of Nicaragua. 

"A unique and insightful presentation of the essential writings and ideas of Chamorro...clearly and gracefully written.   Edmisten puts Nicaraguan politics into perspective and gives the reader of sense of the complexities of the present situation."  Charles Ameringer, Ph.D.,  Pennsylvania State University.

"Moyano's life exemplifies the overwhelming obstacles that poor barrio women experience, not only in Peru but also in other Third World countries.  This autobiographical book adds important information to several different disciplines:  Latin American politics, feminism, sociology and current Peruvian history....Edmisten's expertise is obvious in the scholarly introduction and readable translation."  Mary H. Wilgus, Campellsville University.

A Longing for Wisdom
“Patricia says it best in her preface: ‘… a questioning attitude toward my faith was necessary if I were to be strengthened in it.’ By the end of this book, both she and readers are more than strengthened; we are enlightened and set on fire. Readers will hear in the voice of this one woman the resonance of the voices of many women and men and their experience of life, death, family, and their church. Edmisten offers us one story, but it is the story of a woman who is critical in her thinking about her society and her church. Out of her own experience comes a voice, clear and unabashed. A voice that both criticizes and sings, a voice that is filled with tears and laughter. A voice well worth listening to.”   Timothy R. Carmody, Ph.D., Professor of Theology, Spring Hill College , author of Reading the Bible

 “Readers will see the commitment to ideas, the soul searching, and the gift of crafted verbal expression this work contains. I found her vast personality to have at last been cast worthily on a grand canvas or an intricately attractive tapestry of expression. I found her voice to be fresh and fluid. She has found a theme, its rhythms and images fitting hand in glove with her poetic talents.”  Ron Evans, Professor Emeritus, University of West Florida , author of The Creative Myth and the Cosmic Hero and The Foul Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart