Sara Quinn Rivara (she/her) is the author of three collections of poetry: Little Beast (Riot in Your Throat Press, 2023) finalist for the 2024 Oregon Book Awards in Poetry, Animal Bride (Tinderbox Editions, 2019) and Lake Effect (Aldrich Press, 2013). Her work is rooted in place and focuses on gender, myth, fairytale, domestic violence, motherhood, and the ways a female-identified person moves through an often hostile world.

A classically trained contralto, she has performed widely in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, and currently sings with In Medio, a semi-professional chamber choir, and the Light Opera of Portland.

Sara holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Program For Writers at Warren Wilson College, and a BA in English and Music from Kalamazoo College. From 2000-2013, she served as English faculty and then department chair at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She currently serves as the Dean of Humanities, Social Sciences, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Integrated Media, Education and Early Childhood Education Mt. Hood Community College Gresham, Oregon. In Portland, she sings with In Medio Choir, and serves as the Board President and Producer of the Light Opera of Portland.

Born and raised in Chicagoland, she lived for 18 years in Kalamazoo, Michigan and moved to Portland in 2014 where she lives with her husband,son, and stepson on a tiny urban permaculture farm. She has five cats, four chickens, three plum trees, two apple trees, one car-sized annual chip drop, a resident nest of song sparrows, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Also, fuck the fascists. We don’t obey in advance over here. Join the general strike.