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DORA E. MCQUAID FULL PRESS BIO
DORA E. MCQUAID 400-WORD PRESS BIO
DORA E. MCQUAID 150-WORD PRESS BIO
DORA E. MCQUAID 65-WORD PRESS BIO

FULL PRESS BIOGRAPHY

DORA E. MCQUAID.  AWARD-WINNING POET, ACTIVIST, SPEAKER AND TEACHER.

Dora E. McQuaid is descendant of traveling gypsies, Irish Golden-gloved boxers, and strong women, whose stories and the telling of them prompted her lifelong fascination with the written and spoken word. Dora continues her family tradition of using the personal story to explore memory and conjecture, culture and community, and the connections between the private and the political. Her work embodies the intersections between the arts and activism, service and empowerment.

Dora’s unique blend of art, emotion and service has earned her multiple literary and service honors and awards. To honor her activism addressing sexual and domestic violence, Dora’s image replaced that of former Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky in the Inspiration Mural by artist Michael Pilato near Penn State in 2012. In 2018, Dora’s lifetime achievements were acknowledged by her induction into the Wall of Honor by the Unionville – Chadds Ford School District in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where Dora attended middle and high school. Gargoyle Literary Journal nominated Dora’s poem, Tunnel of Love, for a 2014 Pushcart Prize. Dora was also honored as one of the Remarkable Women of Taos, New Mexico during the 2012 celebration of women whose lives and creative spirits have influenced the Northern New Mexico community. In 2011, Dora was awarded the New Mexico Woman Writer’s Fellowship by A Room of Her Own Foundation. Dora’s efforts also garnered a 2003 Pennsylvania Governor’s Pathfinder Award, recognition by the Pennsylvania Senate and a 2005 Vagina Warrior Award from the Penn State cast of Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues, all while serving as faculty at Penn State between 1999 and 2006, among other honors. She has also been awarded several Poet-In-Residence and Artist Fellowship positions with various programs, including The Harwood Museum of Art and The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, among others.

Dora’s groundbreaking first collection of poems, the scorched earth, and its audio companion, the scorched earth: spoken, were reissued as an Expanded, Second Edition by award-winning Baskerville Publishers in 2015, with the Foreword written by Eve Ensler, Tony Award-winning playwright of The Vagina Monologues and Founder of the international V-DAY Foundation and the One Billion Rising global event. This collection documents Dora’s journey from victimization to survivorship, through healing from a history of both sexual and domestic violence into empowerment and advocacy as an award-winning poet, activist, speaker and teacher. In the Foreword, Eve Ensler calls the scorched earth “…startling and visionary.”

Dora performs, speaks and teaches internationally in venues as varied as women’s and men’s prisons, justice and outreach programs, political rallies and community events, universities and high schools, churches and shelters, as well as television and radio programs and professional and academic conferences. She collaborates internationally with an array of artists, activists, and cultural creatives, ranging from writers, poets and performance artists, to musicians, songwriters and visual artists working in a wide variety of mediums, including pioneering Ekphrasis poets and artists of Taos, New Mexico.

Dora serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Sage Institute for Creativity and Consciousness and The Council for Hope and Healing, which she co-founded in 2012 with a group of international artists and activists to foster community development and empowerment through the Arts, as well as an original member of the Advisory Board of PAWS for Empowerment Victim-Assistance Canine Advocacy Program with Crisis Center North in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dora also serves as consultant and expert witness in sexual violence legal cases, establishing offender liability and the short and long-term impact of such violence on victims.

Dora’s work has been published in anthologies, films, plays, musical compositions, literary journals and magazines, required course readings and law enforcement training programs. The poem, Around This Table, which Dora was commissioned to write in 2001 for the 25th Anniversary of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, benefitted The Memorial Fund for Women lost in domestic violence homicides as a national poster campaign between 2001 and 2018. Kate Bogle’s short film, One Woman’s Voice, which documents Dora’s combined roles as poet, teacher and survivor/activist, is used nationally as a teaching and training tool in universities, prisons, recovery, outreach and judicial programs, among others.

Dora’s forthcoming collection is Seven: Poems of The Interim.

WWW.DORAMCQUAID.COM

400-WORD BIOGRAPHY

DORA E. MCQUAID. POET. ACTIVIST. SPEAKER. TEACHER.

DORA E. MCQUAID is an award-winning poet, activist, speaker and teacher whose work embodies the intersections between the arts and activism, service and empowerment. She is descendant of traveling gypsies, Irish Golden-gloved boxers, and strong women, whose stories and the telling of them prompted her lifelong fascination with the written and spoken word.

Dora’s unique blend of art, emotion and service has earned her numerous literary and service awards and honors. Dora’s activism addressing sexual and domestic violence led to her portrait notably replacing that of former football coach and convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky in the Inspiration Mural near Penn State in 2012. In 2018, Dora’s lifetime achievements and contributions were acknowledged by her induction into the Wall of Honor by the Unionville – Chadds Ford School District in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where Dora attended middle and high school. Dora was also honored with a Pushcart Prize nomination for poetry in 2014, as a 2012 Remarkable Woman of Taos, New Mexico and with the 2011 New Mexico Woman Writer’s Fellowship Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation. Additionally, Dora’s efforts garnered a 2003 Pennsylvania Governor’s Pathfinder Award, recognition by the Pennsylvania Senate and a Vagina Warrior Award, all while serving as faculty at Penn State between 1999 and 2006, before pursuing poetry, performance and activism fulltime.

Dora is the author of the groundbreaking collection of poems, the scorched earth, and its audio companion, the scorched earth: spoken. Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, wrote the Foreword to the Expanded, Second edition released in 2015 by Baskerville Publishers, describing the scorched earth as “…startling and visionary…”.

In addition to serving as a member of the Board of Directors of Sage Institute for Creativity and Consciousness and the PAWS for Empowerment Victim-Assistance Canine Advocacy Program, Dora performs, speaks and teaches internationally, serves as consultant and expert witness in sexual violence legal cases, works collaboratively with an array of artists, activists and cultural creatives, and publishes widely. The poem, Around This Table, which Dora was commissioned to write for the 25th Anniversary of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, benefitted The Memorial Fund for Women lost in domestic violence homicides as a national poster campaign between 2001 and 2018. Kate Bogle’s short film, One Woman’s Voice, which documents Dora’s combined roles as poet, teacher and survivor/activist, is used internationally as a teaching and training tool in universities, prisons, recovery, outreach and judicial programs.

WWW.DORAMCQUAID.COM

150-WORD BIOGRAPHY:

DORA E. MCQUAID. POET. ACTIVIST. SPEAKER. TEACHER.

Dora is an award-winning poet, activist, speaker and teacher whose work embodies the intersections of arts and activism, service and empowerment.

Her unique blend of art, emotion and service has earned numerous literary and service awards and honors, including a 2014 Pushcart Poetry Prize nomination, the 2011 New Mexico Woman Writer’s Fellowship from A Room of Her Own Foundation and a 2003 Pennsylvania Governor’s Pathfinder Award, among others. In honor of her activism addressing sexual and domestic violence, Dora’s image replaced that of former football coach and convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky in the Inspiration Mural near Penn State in 2012.

Dora performs, speaks and teaches internationally, works collaboratively with an array of artists and activists and publishes widely. She is the author of the groundbreaking collection of poems, the scorched earth. Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, wrote the Foreword to the 2015 Expanded, Second edition, describing the scorched earth as “…startling and visionary…”

WWW.DORAMCQUAID.COM

65-WORD BIOGRAPHY

DORA E. MCQUAID. POET. ACTIVIST. SPEAKER. TEACHER.

Dora is an award-winning poet, activist, speaker and teacher whose unique blend of art, emotion and service has earned numerous awards.

Her activism addressing sexual and domestic violence led to her portrait replacing that of convicted pedophile and former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky in the Penn State mural. Dora performs internationally, works collaboratively with an array of artists and activists and publishes widely.

WWW.DORAMCQUAID.COM

DORA E. MCQUAID PROMOTIONAL FLYER

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Photo Credits to:
Dora at microphone:   Jamie Clifford
Dora’s Image in the Inspiration Mural:  Michael Pilato
Center photo of Dora:  Pattie Traynor

PHOTOGRAPHS OF DORA:

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Dora E. McQuaid author photo for the scorched earth
Photo credit to Pattie Traynor

Dora E. McQuaid
Photo credit to Lani Cartwright

Dora E. McQuaid’s Image in the Inspiration Mural where it replaced that of former Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile, Jerry Sandusky.
Photo credit to muralist Michael Pilato

Dora E. McQuaid
Photo credit to Lani Cartwright

Dora E. McQuaid in Blue Ribbon to honor survivors of childhood sexual violence. During the photo shoot for Dora’s image to replace that of former Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile, Jerry Sandusky, in the Inspiration Mural near Penn State.
Photo credit to Erin Eagleton