An Introduction

A Puget Sounder by birth, Judith Barker Kvinsland, a retired teacher and college administrator in both Washington and California, happily exchanged professional writing for personal essays and occasional prose poems. She now lives and writes in eastern Washington amidst wide open skies, channeled scablands, and burgeoning wineries. She and her husband are “itinerant grandparents,” frequent travelers to California, Montana and the Olympic Peninsula, to connect with extended family and friends. Her collection of essays, Disturbing the Calm: A Memoir of Time and Place, was released on March 13, 2020, the moment that home stays began and bookstores were shuttered. Like many others, she is looking forward to the day when bookstores reopen and writers and readers can meet up again.