Anna Viadero, Writer and Editor

Writing from Life

"Whether in a poem, a short story, or a memoir, Anna Viadero's writing shows you who she is by telling you how she feels. She writes in almost every genre, but her truest calling is the lyric essay, a form that blends the poem's compression and grace with the essay's drive to examine the facts and persuade the reader.

"Whether her aim is to reproduce the feelings stirred by her two sons as they grow to adulthood ("Sons"), to convey the atmosphere enveloping a couple alone together after years crowded with their children's presence ("At the Table"), or to express the mystery and joy of transforming scraps and swaths of colored fabric into an intricately designed quilt ("Alchemy"), Anna's emotional sensitivity and verbal skill combine to move the reader. Like the pieces she lovingly assembles with her needle, the words and sentences she puts together gradually build to form a pattern that touches both the mind and the heart."

–Vivian Dorsel, Editor and Publisher, upstreet