BJ Feeney

BJ currently resides in a western suburb of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband, Marty. As a retired educator, she recalls years of working with her students and peers with a great deal of fondness. Her BS in Education and MS as a reading/writing consultant in the public schools have given her many opportunities to appreciate and respect multiple cultures and learning styles.

BJ gives credit to her parents, John and Margaret Karr, for creating a literary environment where she could grow and learn. Yearly birthday memoir letters composed for other family members, anniversary letters expressing deep sentiments and/or humor, diaries holding philosophies, essays regarding life, occasions for poetic musings, and many opportunities for oral discussions, storytelling, and so on, are just some of the enduring memories for her. “I’ve been writing as a means of expression since I was a child,” she reflects.

“That’s what writers do. We write about what inspires us, always taking mental notes as we observe and categorize life into its myriad possibilities for others and ourselves. We inspire each other with our words, pictures, paintings, and music – whatever artistic form gives voice to our emotional/spiritual selves – presenting them as a gift to the world.”

BJ continues to grow and learn professionally by subscribing to Poets & Writers, attending workshops and courses affiliated with Grub Street in Boston and The Loft in Sherborn, and participating in writers’ roundtables. In addition, BJ holds a degree as a certified master Reiki/Shamballa Instructor, practicing other religious modalities as they introduce themselves along the way.

Recently, BJ published her poem, “Blue Whale”, in the children’s poetry anthology Friends & Anemones Ocean Poems For Children  (the Writers’ Loft Press, Sherborn, Mass.,2020) along with many renowned New England writers. The Writers’ Loft partnered with the Rozilia Project to help raise awareness of the plight of our ocean habitats while encouraging children to become active “ocean protectors”. The anthology can also serve as a parental/teacher aid in teaching the genre of poetry in its various forms.

In addition, BJ was published in another anthology entitled Hope through Community Words and Images in Response to a Global Pandemic (Damianos Publishing, Framingham, Mass.,2020) as a selected participant, offering her unique perspective on the concept of hope through her poem,” Pandemic”. “Pandemic ” addresses mankind’s new learning curve, the need for a global voice for change if we are to continue to survive on planet Earth, a more compassionate type of thinking toward one another.

In the future, BJ intends to write children’s literary picture books, thematic poetry anthologies, flash fiction collections, and snapshot memoirs. She recently co-wrote a fantasy picture book with her grandson, Austin, and is anxious to publish it as a second/third grade level guided reading book.