Poetry On Air

Charm Joy Der has a Masters in Education. She is a wife, a mother to two inquisitive and energetic young sons, an entrepreneur, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategist. Through her work, she aims to provide a space where all children see themselves in literature. Her debut book, My Happiness Counts, takes readers on a joyful counting adventure to happiness.

Marilyn Zelke Windau is a poet, born in Chicago, who lives in Sheboygan Falls. She has a degree in art education from UW-Madison and taught art at the elementary, middle, and high school levels for many years. She has published four books of poetry with over 180 poems in various journals. She and her husband have three daughters, three grandchildren, and she loves to travel.

Janet Ross was born in 1924 in Evanston, Illinois. She was an only child who spent her time reading and drawing, until her mother told her to go outside to play. She came to Sheboygan in the mid 1950s and raised her family here. For forty years, she was a docent at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. She is a painter, a weaver, a lover of poetry, and a dedicated peace activist. She was also, for more than two decades, a Partner in Reading through the Sheboygan Area School District.

An east coast native, Georgia Ressmeyer has lived in Wisconsin since 1974, first as a lawyer in Milwaukee, now as a poet in Sheboygan. She has published two poetry chapbooks and two full-length collections. Her most recent chapbook is Leading a Life (Water’s Edge Press, 2021). See georgiaressmeyer.com for more information.

Maryann Hurtt is a poet and former hospice nurse who lives in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine. She is a dedicated world traveler and is passionate about environmental issues. She has published two books of poetry, the latest being Once Upon a Tar Creek: Mining for Voices (Turning Plow Press, 2021). 

Scott Allen Schmidt is an Afro-Bahamian/Irish American writer, poet, actor, lyricist, former rock-and-roll front man, construction recruiter, and wayward son of a Northwoods preacher. His writing can be found in Stoneboat Literary Journal and in From Everywhere a Little: A Migration Anthology from Water’s Edge Press.